Stand in the Rain
by fallenxxangel
Summary: What do you do when you're torn apart between dieing and saving lives? Is there no other choice, no way out? As if your problems weren't enough throw in love, then what? I know what you're thinking, the noble thing right? it's not so easy
1. Change

I'm sorry it's so short but the second chapter will be up as soon as it can and it'll be longer. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own any characters from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, the only characters I own are the ones I make up.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter One:

Change

Two shots fired from a broken down house in Twilight Town. It was dark and a shadow appeared in front of a bloody creature. The shadow put the gun away and picked up the dark creature by the neck. "Where's the captain who commands your squad." The shadow said as he squeezed his hand harder.

"You'll never find him" the creature said with a scratchy voice. The shadow stretched out his hand and a blade appeared. With the blade he killed the creature and walked away while the blade disappeared. The shadowed man pulled up his hood and met up with other people hidden in black. The one that was shorter with a slimmer, feminine look stepped towards him. "Did you get any info this time, Sora?" Sora reloaded his guns while the others waited.

"Kairi, don't talk so openly where anyone can hear. Come on let's go back first." Sora kept his handgun at his side as did the others. They cautiously went down the street and turned into an ally. Kairi and one other figure watched guard while Sora and the others push an old dumpster aside. They pulled up a disguised brick door on the ground. One by one they climbed down the hole and covered it back up. Inside were stairs descending into a big room with other doors leading else where. They sat down and took off their hoods. Kairi sat in an old recliner chair and Sora jumped onto a hammock. The others sat on the couch. One of them was Riku, next to him was Cloud, and Leon. "So Sora, start talking" Kairi said while she took off her weapons.

"Well it was pretty much the same as last time; they were trained to talk, but also trained to never tell." Sora began to take off his weapons as well.

"Those damn heartless. They think they're so smart ever since they joined forces with the nobodies and learned to think for themselves." Cloud said as he got up and headed for one of the doors.

"Hey take it easy Cloud I did get one thing." Sora said while everyone turned towards him. "They're trying to create something from a nobody and a heartless. And that their captain is stationed in Twilight Town, so we haven't been searching for nothing." With that said everyone headed towards their rooms threw other doors except Sora and Kairi.

"Hey, why don't you get over here and let me fix your injuries, you're getting blood on the floor." Kairi had her back turned to him while getting out the medical kit from a cupboard. Sora looked down and saw some blood on the floor then started looking at himself for the injury. Once he hit his arm, pain shot threw him.

"Owww!! When the hell did that happen?" Sora walked over to her and sat in a chair at the counter. He took off his sweatshirt and saw the cut of claw marks on his left arm. He then took off his short sleeve shirt to look for other injuries. "Looks like this is the only one." Kairi turned around to see him with out a shirt revealing his muscles. 'When did he get so hott?' she thought to herself.

"So what is our mission tomorrow?" Kairi tried to get her mind off of him while tending to his wound.

"Well I haven't thought that far ahead yet." He said lazily. Kairi got annoyed and tightened his bandage. "Ow! Hey watch it that hurts." Kairi stood up annoyed and headed for her room. "Hey wait." Sora then realized he had no other reason for her to stay except the fact that he liked to be around her. He turned around hiding his slight blush. "Never mind." Kairi was curious and walked over to him.

"Yeah right, what are you hiding." He thought fast and remembered he found something while killing those heartless. Sora smiled as he turned around to face her with his hands behind his head.

"Nothing" He teased. "Just something I found but you wouldn't be interested so why don't you just go get some rest." Kairi couldn't resist.

"What? What did you find? Show me!"

"Oh it's nothing interesting" Sora teased again as he reached into his pocket and held something in his hand where she couldn't reach. He smiled and laughed at her while he kept her from grabbing his hand.

"Sora! Let me see! I'll bring you to the ground if I have to!"

"I'd like to see you try" Sora laughed at her. She then grabbed his free arm with one hand, his other arm with her other hand and hit behind his knees with her leg, bringing them both to the ground. Kairi landed rough on top of Sora causing him to loose his breath. They both started laughing.

"What now Sora? You're on the ground so how about showing me what's in your hand?"

"Ok but I warned you, it's not interesting." He laughed and opened his hand revealing an old popsicle stick.

"Sora! You got me all interested over nothing!" She hit his head and laughed at his pain. Shortly after laughing at him she then realized that she was still on top of him. Sora also noticed and their faces turned red as she quickly got off him and they turned away from each other. "Well I'm going to bed and you need to too so you can be ready for our mission tomorrow." She went in her room and shut the door. Sora then went to his room, shut the door, and lay on his bed. He thought to himself while staring at the ceiling.

'Three years have gone by… after defeating Organization XIII, peace only lasted for about a year and then things went out of control. The heartless and nobodies didn't have a leader and being as stupid as they are, they fought each other for the title of leader. One day a mysterious creature with great power joined the fight and won within seconds and therefore became their leader. We don't even know what he is but he trained the nobodies and heartless how to think for themselves. The only thing we know about him is that he goes by the name of Taro and he is powerful… I sure do miss Goofy and Donald… and the King… I miss everyone… Luckily the only towns that Taro got his hands on were Twilight Town and traverse town. The king ordered all the people he could get to help to protect the other worlds and is currently fighting with Goofy and Donald somewhere. Since he only needed a few he ordered the rest of us to stay here to gather info and save who's ever left in this broken town. We've been stuck in this place for awhile now and those that we saved, we sent off to safer worlds. So here we are… just me, Kairi, Riku, Cloud, and Leon… fighting off heartless and nobodies… it's getting pretty boring since they're so weak…'

Sora began drifting off into sleep… He saw memories of his past adventures; when he met new people, made new friends, saved his friends, and even how overwhelmed with happiness he was when he found Riku and Kairi. What he dreamed of most was of days before anything had ever happened… of the hidden cave that they drew all over, and especially the drawing that he and Kairi drew. Strangely, the cave began to grow dark and darker. Then appeared the first heartless he encountered. He called for his keyblade but it didn't come, he had no weapon and the darkness caught his legs. The heartless went in for the kill but it stopped in its tracks. A small light shined behind the creature and grew brighter. A figure not recognizable held a strange keyblade he never saw before. The figure then called for another and oblivion appeared. Both keyblades glowed and the figure held them without touching the handles. The figure did something he never saw before… it merged the keyblades together and with one swing the creature disappeared into light and a faint voice was heard… Meine Liebe ist vengeance, das nie frei ist


	2. And so it Begins

Thanks for all the reviews! Here is the second chapter and the third will be coming soon so I hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, and I never will.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Two:

And so it begins…

Sora sat up in his bed with the smell of breakfast in the air. He lazily stood up and put a white shirt on with a pair of jeans and went out into the main room. Riku sat at the counter with Kairi made breakfast. Leon was lying on the couch and Cloud was in his hammock. Sora rubbed his eyes and then noticed that, that was his hammock. He smiled and slowly walked to the side of it where Cloud couldn't see him. He then jumped up, pulling the hammock with him causing Cloud to flip over to the ground. "Serves you right, this is my hammock." Sora laughed at him then stuck out his tongue. Cloud gave him a dirty look then jumped on him. They started to fight and Riku joined in. Leon tried to avoid them but once Sora accidentally hit him in the face, he joined in as well. Kairi ignored them and began to eat her breakfast.

"You guys are hopeless…" Kairi told them. She turned away from them and they all stopped. Sora had Cloud's arms pinned behind his back, Leon had a hold on Riku's ankles, Riku was sitting on Sora's back, and Cloud locked his legs around Leon's waist. With the sudden stop, they lost their balance and let go of each other. Sora got to the food first and filled his plate.

"Hey! Don't hog it all!" Riku yelled at him and pushed him out of the way. The others got their food and sat down to eat. "I bet Sora didn't even have a plan for today."

"Hey! I was thinking about it and I at least know the location." Sora yelled back and continued eating. "…That old mansion." They all stopped eating.

"Are you sure we're ready to go there?" Riku asked him. "You know that place is covered in neoshadows, soldiers, dusk, armored knights, assassins, and samurai. And that's only on the outside. We also know that they got snipers on the roof and that they're hiding a dark thorn and a twilight thorn in there. Can we take on those two by ourselves?"

"Why do you think it's so heavily guarded? I think that's where their captain is." Sora kept eating to avoid their faces.

"You're avoiding the question Sora; can we take on a dark thorn and a twilight thorn at the same time? Not to mention if we can get inside."

"I believe we can… be ready to move out by twelve. Since we're fighting the heartless, fighting in daylight is best." Sora told them and put away his dishes, then went into his room.

"Riku, do we really have a chance at this?" Kairi was concerned.

"Well… Sora knows his limits, and he has gotten a lot stronger. We should be able to take down those thorns but I'm worried about what else is in there…" Riku got up and went to his room as well.

"Sora knows what he's doing so all you have to be worried about is being ready to go." Cloud said as he put his hand on her shoulder. Leon went to his room and cloud followed after to his. 'Sora…' Kairi thought. She walked over to his door and quietly knocked.

"Come in." Sora was heard through the door. Kairi opened it to find Sora looking through an old journal.

"What's that?" Kairi questioned as he looked up at her.

"What? Oh this? It's nothing just something from my old journeys." He closed it and set it at the end of his bed. Kairi walked over and sat down next to it. She picked it up and started flipping through the pages. The pages were old and some were torn. They were notes of all the heartless and nobodies he encountered. Some of the notes were about the bosses too and there was even some about the worlds and people in them. Kairi looked at him. "Told you it was nothing." He said as he fell back on the bed with his hand behind his head.

"What do you mean it's nothing, this is very valuable information for battles." She stopped when she came upon a drawing. It was a replica of their drawing in the cave. Sora sat up quickly and snagged the journal from her. "You know you should be getting ready." Sora had a slight blush on his face.

"Ok, big guy." She laughed and rubbed his head as she walked out. Sora opened the journal to the drawing and turned the page. On the back of that page was a photo of the three of them when they were little on the island. Riku and Sora had an arm over each other's shoulders and Kairi was on their backs with an arm around both of their necks. They were all happy and had smiles on their faces. Sora smiled at the happy memory and then shut the journal. He summoned his keyblades one at a time to clean them up and make sure everything was ready.

_Somewhere else in Twilight Town..._

It was raining and a girl with a navy blue sweatshirt pulled up her hood as she walked down the street. Two armored knights appeared and she took off running in the other direction. They followed her down an ally where she came to a dead end. The girl backed up against the wall facing the heartless. One came at her with its sword and at the last minute she turned to dodge it causing its sword to get stuck in the brick wall. Then the other one came at her and she ducked and kicked it from behind making it fall. Just as she turned to run away one of their swords came flying at her, stabbing her in the back of her right shoulder. Blood splattered on the ground and she fell to her hands and knees. A picture fell in front of her, now damp with blood spots on it. She picked it up and put it back in her pocket. Pulling the sword out, she turned, stabbing into the armored knight that was coming from behind her. It vanished as she fell to one knee with her right arm limp. The armored knight pulled out its sword from the wall and came at her. Quickly, she pulled up the sword and blocked its attack. By standing up, she forced it back and sliced through it. The girl was breathing hard and the sword dropped. She looked around; blood dripped from her arm, the rain poured sending the blood down the ally and into a drain. Slowly, she staggered to the end of the ally. She used the wall as leverage but the pain was too much. Against her will, her body gave in and she fell to the wet ground while the rain continued to pour on her.

_Back at the hideout..._

"Alright everyone let's head out" Sora said as the all went up the stairs and to the secret door. They all put up their hoods while waiting in the rain for Cloud and Riku to push the dumpster back over the door. None of them said a word while they walked the streets of the old town. While walking past an ally they came upon a body lying on the ground in a puddle of blood.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted and pointed to the body. "We can just let her die here." Sora turned to face her.

"We have a job to do and we don't even know if she's an enemy."

"Sora, you know we have to do something." Kairi glared at him and Sora knew she was right.

"…Cloud why don't you help Kairi and meet up with us later." Cloud nodded and Sora, Riku, and Leon kept walking. Cloud knelt down by the body to check for a pulse on her neck. It was cold but she had a pulse.

"Come on; let's get her back to our place." Cloud told Kairi as he gently lifted the girl in his arms. While they walked in the rain, the girl's hood began to fall off, revealing long brown hair in a pony tail and a young girl's face. Kairi looked at her and pulled her hood back up. "Don't worry Kairi, we'll fix her up." Cloud tried to give some comfort for her.

"Yeah…" She said softly and looked down as they walked through the rain.

_With Sora, Riku, and Leon..._

"Hey Sora, do you really think that girl's gona make it? I mean you saw how much blood she lost." Leon questioned.

"She's in good hands…" He said without looking back at them. "You and I both know what kind of wound that was. She was attacked by an armored knight, but why? They won't do anything that they aren't ordered to do." Sora began to think as they came to the woods that led to the mansion. Once the mansion was in sight, they spread out and hid behind the trees. They each had ear pieces to communicate.

"Leon in position with assault rifle."

"Riku in position armed with sniper rifle."

"Sora in position with assault rifle. Riku take out the snipers on top first." Sora quietly said while looking through the telescope on his assault rifle.

"Rodger" Riku replied and very carefully positioned the gun to shoot one of the snipers. "Taking fire." With that said one of the snipers went down and vanished. Then Riku finished the other three off without any guards noticing. "All clear on top"

"Good job Riku. Leon and I will take from each side; you wait till I give you the word and then take the middle." Sora replied and began to sneak closer to the entrance. Leon did the same on the left side while Riku took out his assault rifle and watched through his telescope. They both got as close as they can without being spotted.

"You guys got only two dragoons guarding the entrance gate." Riku reported to them.

"Leon let's take them from behind so we don't have them all pouring out at once." Sora ordered.

"Alright" Leon agreed. They both swung their guns behind their backs and Sora summoned his keyblade while Leon took out his Gunblade from his back. Very stealthily, they snuck up behind them. At the same time they swung their weapons and they vanished.

"Ok Riku, come on over but be quiet about it" Sora hid on one side of the gate while Leon was on the other. Riku quietly walked up behind Sora. "Ok, one my word we bust the gate and fire at will." Sora ordered while his keyblade vanished and he grabbed his assault rife while Leon did the same. Sora looked over to Leon and they nodded; then at Riku and they nodded. He took a deep breath…

"Go!" They kicked the door open and fired at the heartless and nobodies.

_With Cloud and Kairi..._

Cloud gently set the girl down on the couch while Kairi got out the bandages. She looked over at Cloud.

"You should go change you got blood all over you and you're soaking wet." He looked at himself and then at her.

"Yeah so should you." He said to her as he went to his room. She just took off her sweatshirt and carried the bandages over to the girl.

"Hey bring me some towels!" She yelled at Cloud. He came out with a few towels in his hand.

"Here" He said as he sat next to Kairi and the girl.

"Help me lift her up so I can take off her sweatshirt." He carefully sat her up while Kairi unzipped her jacket and lightly pulled it off. Under her sweatshirt was a white t-shirt with two guns on it. Her right side was stained with blood.

"Ok let's take her to my room." Cloud lifted her up and carried her to Kairi's room. Kairi set a couple of old blankets on the floor. "Put her here" Cloud set her down and left the room. Kairi slowly took off her shirt to fix her wound. She cleaned it and then patched it up. Since her shirt was stained she put one of hers on her. The shirt was a black tank top with a white flower design on the bottom left corner. Her forehead was hot so Kairi took a wet rag and placed it on her forehead.

"Hey Cloud you can put her back on the couch now." Cloud came in and carried her to the couch. Kairi closed her door so she could change into some dry clothes. She came out with a navy blue t-shirt with a star design and then put on one of her black sweatshirts. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's hurry" Cloud said as he followed her up the stairs in his usual outfit.

_At the mansion..._

Gun shots were being fired and enemies, defeated. Sora and Leon worked on the sides with Riku worked in the middle. They all watched each other's backs.

"Were almost done guys" Leon was heard through their ear pieces. The sound of gun fire began to slow down as Riku shot the last Soldier.

"Alright, let's head inside" Sora ordered as they followed. They came up to the door, Leon and Riku on one side and Sora on the other. They kicked open the door with their guns at the ready. It was empty with the sense of evil in the air. Very cautiously they walked in and made their way to the middle of the room. A faint rumble went through the ground and under their feet. "Here they come" Sora said as they stood back to back. Another shake went through the ground and to the left of them a dark circle formed on the floor while on the right side, a white circle formed. They focused their attention at them and from the dark circle a black hand with red claws reached out and used the floor to pull himself out. The same happened in the white circle except it was a white clawed hand. Out of the circles a dark thorn and twilight thorn pulled themselves out. They roared together and were ready to attack. "I'll take the nobody, Leon take the heartless and Riku help us both." Sora said quickly as they jumped out of the way of their big claws.

"Alright heartless, let's see what you got." Leon said as he charged for the heartless with his Gunblade. Sora summoned Oblivion and Oathkeeper and charged for the nobody's legs. Riku summoned Way to the Dawn and looked for an opening between the two enemies. Sora dodged the nobody's attack and counterattacked it on its right side. The nobody swayed and then attacked with a thorn beam.

"Riku! Leon!" They all dodged its attack. Leon blocked the dark thorn's claw and pushed it back then counterattacked with a consecutive slash, cutting it right to left and then downward. The dark thorn roared in pain and tried to grab Leon but Leon dodged again and cut its leg. It became frustrated and ruthlessly attacked with its claws. Leon dodged most of his attempts but at the last second it went the other direction and cut Leon's right thigh. Riku saw and jumped if front of Leon who was now on one knee. It came at him but Riku used his dark shield and counterattacked with his keyblade, cutting across its face. The dark thorn back up and cover its face. Riku used this opportunity to finish it off with a ground combo. He then helped Leon to his feet and made sure Sora was doing ok.

"Can you walk now?" Riku asked.

"Yeah I'm ok" Leon said as he limped. Sora looked over at them to see that the dark thorn vanished. Riku looked at the nobody and saw that it was cut up good but was still standing. It took a swing at Sora while he was looking the other way.

"Sora look out!" Riku yelled as he ran towards him. 'I'm not going to make it…' He thought as he saw the claw coming down at Sora…


	3. Questions

Thanks for the reviews they're always appreciated! Please enjoy and the fourth chapter will be coming soon.

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, and I never will.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Three:

Questions

A black blur ran in front of Sora. Riku stopped in his tracks and Sora held up Oblivion and shut his eyes, ready for the attack. The claw didn't hit him and he opened his eyes to see Cloud in front of him, holding back the claw with his big sword. Cloud turned his head to look at Sora. "Hey, it's not like you to let your guard down." Cloud smiled at him and faced the creature. He pushed the nobody's claw back so much force that it took a few steps back. Riku and Leon caught up to them and readied their weapons.

"Thanks Cloud, I guess fighting all those weaker ones got me relaxed." Sora smiled. "Hey guys leave this guy to me, take a break." Sora told them and stepped forward towards the nobody. Kairi came up to the rest of them. Sora looked back at her and gave her a smile and held up Oblivion to his shoulder. She knew he wasn't smiling inside but she smiled back anyway. He turned to face the Twilight Thorn with a serious face. Kairi knew that Leon was hurt and that they would just be in the way.

"Come on, let get out of his way and I'll fix up Leon's leg." Kairi faced them while hiding her worry. They nodded and went towards the door to the mansion. Cloud and Riku helped Leon down and Kairi whipped the blood away from his wound. She wrapped it and then turned to watch the fight. Riku knew she was worried about him even though she hides it.

"Hey Kairi, don't be jealous cause you don't get to fight." Kairi looked at him and he looked at her. She knew that was his way of letting her know that Sora will be fine. She gave him a small smile to say thanks and focused her attention to Sora. Sora dodged the nobody's claw and jumped on its arm. The nobody reached for him with its other hand but Sora jumped up and came down on his hand with the keyblades. Its arm couldn't handle Oblivion and Oathkeeper and was cut off. The pain was immense causing it to roar horribly. Blood gushed out of its arm and the others covered their ears from its terrible roar. The creature was driven crazy with pain and went straight for Sora. Sora dodged all his attacks but suddenly slipped in its blood. It saw the opening and charged Sora with its claw before he even touched the ground. Sora crossed his swords and as soon as the nobody's claw touched his keyblades a bright light flashed. When the light dispersed, Sora was in his Valor form. He had a grin on his face and the others knew that the nobody was done for. The nobody stepped back and Sora ran towards him.

"This is the end nobody!" Sora yelled as he charged. The nobody stepped back once but then began to charge with a light ball forming in its hand.

"No, this is your end keybearer!" it yelled as they got closer together. When they collided Sora used brake raid to destroy the light beam and went for its head. It was in shock and didn't move to avoid his attack. Sora brought Oblivion and Oathkeeper down on its head, defeating him. As it vanished, Sora walked towards his friends. With a flash of light he was back in his jeans and sweatshirt. Oblivion and Oathkeeper disappeared in his hands since he didn't need them anymore. When he got close enough, he put on a smile and had one hand behind his head. Kairi went up to him and paused for a second. Sora looked at her and looked scared.

"W-what?" he said nervously. Kairi lifted her hand and whipped some blood spots on his face. Sora felt his face get warm and instantly held the blush down.

"Nothing. So you hurt anywhere?" she said calmly as she looked around his face. Cloud, Riku, and Leon held back their laughter as they sat behind Kairi. Sora noticed and gave them a dirty look.

"No, I'm fine. Let's get moving everyone." Sora let Kairi walk in front and as Riku passed by him, he punched his arm. Riku flinched and then just chuckled. Sora glared at him as he walked behind them. "Ok since there are three doors, let's split up and search. Cloud take the door upstairs to the right, Riku and Leon, take the door downstairs to the left, and me and Kairi will take the door upstairs to the left." Sora trusted Cloud on his own and since Leon was injured, Riku would be perfect for protection, and that left just him and Kairi. He liked the thought of it but tossed that thought aside and focused on their mission.

"Alright, don't take too long everyone." Cloud said as he walked up the stairway on the right.

"Yeah Sora." Riku told him with a smirk. Sora gave him another dirty look while Kairi was already on her way up the stairs. Riku and Leon went into the room as the heard Sora yelling at Kairi.

"Hey! Wait up!" He ran up the stairs to catch up to her.

"Well next time pay attention, lazy." She giggled and ruffled his hair. He slightly blushed and was thankful that she was already turned the other way. He shook his head, making his hair fall back to normal and caught up to her again. As they arrived at the door Sora put his hands behind his head.

"You know were not kids anymore, I'm mean come on were eighteen and officially adults." She stopped and looked at him with a smile.

"Yeah but your attitude is still only fifteen." She teased him and opened the door. Everything in the room was white except for some colored drawings tacked to the wall. Sora stepped ahead of Kairi.

"Wow… I remember this place. It's so old." He looked around the room while Kairi walked over to the old drawings. She dusted off one of them. It was a drawing that looked like Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Hey, come look at these." Kairi handed him the drawing. He looked at it with a smile.

"Yeah… I sure do miss those guys." Sora looked at the picture while Kairi walked around. 'It's been almost a year since King Mickey split us up…' he set the picture down. "Well, I doubt that anything's here, otherwise this place wouldn't be so dusty."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but why was it so heavily guarded?" Kairi crossed her arms.

"Who knows, maybe something used to be here or maybe it's just in another room." Sora put his hands behind his head as he followed her through the door. They saw Riku and Leon sitting on the floor between the stairs waiting. When they got to the bottom they heard Cloud come through the door.

"So did you guys find anything?" Kairi asked them as they stood up.

"Nothing but a lot of dust and this ripped paper." Riku said as he handed the paper to Sora. On the paper was some sort of old writing that they couldn't read. Cloud walked up and handed Sora another piece of ripped paper. Cloud crossed his arms as Sora held the papers together. It showed:

"Το κλειδί για την καρδιά του βρίσκεται μέσα σε την. Αυτή είναι μια αληθινή αδυναμία του."

"How are we supposed to read this?" Leon said what they were all thinking.

"I'll take care of it." Sora took both pieces and put them in his pocket. "Let's get back." Sora walked towards the door and the others followed.

"Oh, no! I can't believe I forgot! That injured girl is still at our place!" Kairi ran passed Sora and out the door.

"Hey wait!" Sora yelled at her and they ran after her. They finally made it back and were out of breath. Kairi was the first one in and the others followed. The girl was sound asleep right where Kairi left her. Kairi sighed of relief and went over to the girl.

"You guys better not wake her up or you're gona get it." Kairi whispered as they walked in. Sora lazily climbed into his hammock while Riku sat in the recliner next to the couches. Leon and Cloud took the small couch across from the big one. Kairi laid back in a lounge chair near the hammock. Within only a few minutes they all fell asleep accidentally. About an hour later the girl woke up. 'Where am I? What happened?' She sat up and grabbed her shoulder. 'It's wrapped up?' She was surprised and then noticed that there were people all around her. 'What should I do? If I wake them up, I won't be able to take all five of them on at once.' She saw the way out and decided it would be best for her to get out while she can. Very slowly and cautiously she made her way to the stairs. After taking one more look behind her, she gently put her foot on the first step. Slowly she added pressure to the stair and was thankful that it didn't squeak. Now she did the same thing to the next stair. Finally she made it to the top. After seeing her escape she forgot about the stairs and as soon as her foot touched that last step, it squeaked and echoed into the living room where they were all asleep. The girl stopped in her tracks and was afraid to move. 'Dammit!! I'm at the door! Damn stairs!' She heard them shift but no one got up. 'Whew, that was way to close' Inch by inch she pushed the door open. Quietly she climbed out the door and went to close it, but as soon as she turned around a gust of wind slammed the door shut.

"Dammit!" She yelled and took off running as fast as she could down the street. Kairi jumped up and accidentally hit Sora's head from under the hammock.

"Ow!" Sora sat up too fast and tried to balance on the hammock but eventually fell off right on his face. "Ow! Hey, Kairi what was that for!" The noise woke up the others.

"Oops, sorry." She smiled nervously as she stood up.

"Hey what's all the ruckus about?" Riku looked annoyed as he rubbed his eye.

"Kairi hit me and made me fall off the hammock." Sora crossed his arms.

"Hey, it's not my fault you fell out." Kairi crossed her arms as well.

"Would you guys quit arguing like little kids? We have a problem." Cloud got their attention and pointed to the empty couch.

"We have to go find her right now!" Kairi put on her sweatshirt and ran out the door.

"Well, it looks like now we've got to search for both of them." Sora annoyingly mumbled as he walked outside. "Alright let's split up but keep your cell phones on you." With that said, they took off in different directions. Sora caught a glimpse of Kairi from the corner of his eye and turned to follow. After he turned the corner, he found her running. "Hey! Kairi! Wait up!" She didn't look back but turned another corner. Around the corner he saw the injured girl running ahead of Kairi. Sora turned down an ally and wait on the other side. Sure enough, there was the girl and Kairi not too far behind her. The girl stopped after seeing Sora and went to turn around but found Kairi blocking her. Sora flipped open his phone and told the others where they were.

"Don't move we have some questions for you." Kairi tried to calm the girl down. The girl was breathing hard and the pain from her injury caught up with her. She flinched and put her hand over it. "Now look what you did. It's probably bleeding again." Cloud arrived first with Riku and Leon behind him.

"So why don't you tell us your name and we head back so the heartless and nobodys don't begin to show themselves." Sora crossed his arms and waited for an answer. The girl looked at them but was still unsure.

"How can I trust you?" She took a step back.

"We're against the heartless and the nobodys." Cloud said plainly as he crossed his arms.

"…My names Tori."

"I'm Sora and this is Kairi, Riku, Leon, and Cloud." He pointed at everyone as he called their names. "Now how about you come back with us and we'll talk."

"…ok" She followed them but stopped and turned around causing them to stop too.

"Hey why are you stopping?" Sora asked.

"Three Assault Riders are about to show themselves." Tori looked at them. Her eyes changed from ice blue to green. The green in her eyes glowed.

"How do you know that?" Sora summoned Fenrir, Riku summoned Way to the Dawn, and then the Assault Riders appeared from darkness. "We'll take care of them, you guys get back and we'll meet you there." Kairi nodded and they ran back to the hideout.

"Let's finish them off quickly, I'm hungry." Riku smiled and Sora smiled back. They both charged at one of the heartless with their keyblades.


	4. Answers?

Thanks for the reviews **KHKairiNamineFanatic** and **projectfreq91**, they're always appreciated! Please enjoy and the fifth chapter will be coming soon.

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, and I never will.

_**Stand in the Rain**_

Chapter Four:

Answers?

They charged for the heartless with their keyblades. Riku dodged its staff like weapon and charged from its side. The heartless blocked his attack and pushed him towards the other Assault Rider's weapon but Sora knocked its weapon out of its hand and Riku landed on his feet. Sora took the opening and slashed its chest. Blood dripped but it stubbornly kept fighting. Riku blocked the other's weapon and pushed back against it. Their weapons separated and clashed again with sparks. Sora blocked the third's staff but the injured heartless recovered his weapon and charged at him. A small light flashed and Oblivion was held in his other hand just before its weapon could reach him, causing sparks to fly. Riku jumped as the rider swung its weapon at him. He landed close to the rider and swung upward, cutting across its chest, taking its arm with it. The heartless roared viciously as blood flowed through the cut. Its reflexes became slow as it violently attacked. Riku dodged its weak attacks and finished it off with a final swing. Sora jumped out of the way causing the two riders to stab each other. They both roared in pain as they pulled out their weapons. Riku came up behind the one injured most and sliced through it as it vanished into little lights. The last rider charged at Sora but Sora moved out of the way and cut its weapon in half. It threw down the useless staff and charged for him again. Sora charged as well and when they collided, Oblivion and Fenrir cut through it while one arm made contact with Sora. The dust cleared and the Assault Rider vanished as the keyblades dissipated.

"Fast enough for ya?" Sora grinned and Riku returned the smile.

"Well, you're a little late but I guess I can forgive you. Come on let's get back so I can eat." Riku walked with his hands in his pockets while Sora put his hands behind his head.

They arrived and saw everyone sitting in the living room relaxing. "Looks like we weren't missed." Sora joked while Riku took a seat. Kairi stood up.

"Riku, Sora, come over here." They followed her to the counter and she took out her bag with the med kit in it. "Alright, Riku first." He rolled his eyes and waited for her to inspect him for injuries. She wiped off the scratch on his arm and put a band aid over it.

"Thanks, Kai." Riku took a seat on the other side of the big couch, where Tori was sitting. They began little conversations while Kairi looked at Sora.

"So, has Tori said anything yet?" Sora questioned while he waited. Kairi wiped off the cut on his cheek but accidentally pressed too hard. "Ow!"

"Sorry. No, she said she would wait till you two got back." Sora's face began to heat up at the touch of Kairi's hand over his cheek. She felt the heat coming from his cheek but didn't realize it was her fault. "Are you feeling ok? You feel kinda hot." Kairi put her hand to his forehead which caused a slight blush to show through on his cheeks.

"Y-yeah I'm fine." He tried not to look in her eyes so the blush wouldn't grow. She handed him an ice pack.

"Here, put this on your cheek." He placed the ice pack on his cheek and sat in his hammock. Kairi took her usual spot in the lounge chair. "So, Tori, where are you from?" She felt nervous being in the center of attention.

"Well, I don't really remember." She looked to the ground.

Sora removed the ice pack to speak. "What are you doing in Twilight Town?"

"Well… I'm searching for someone…" She didn't want to meet any of their gazes.

"Who?" Cloud joined in on the conversation.

"…my brother…Kenji…" sadness showed in her eyes while her gaze focused on the ground. An uneasy silence fell upon the room.

"Well I'm gona go try to get in contact with King Mickey." Sora tossed his ice pack on the counter and headed to his room.

"You're welcome to stay here Tori." Kairi smiled at her. Tori looked up at her and but her pain behind her.

"That sounds nice but I should probably go."

"What and get yourself hurt again? You don't even have a weapon to defend yourself. You're better off staying here." Riku tried not to sound concerned as he refused to make eye contact with her. Kairi looked surprised at Riku. He saw this and went to his room so he could hide the slight blush on his face.

"Riku's right." Kairi stood up. "Come on, you can sleep in my room." Kairi led her to her room and let her get comfortable. She handed Tori a pair of sweats and a white t-shirt.

"Thanks for all this."

"No problem." Kairi smiled and then left the room so she could have her privacy. Cloud and Leon already went to their rooms and the lights were off. Kairi made her way over to Sora's hammock and laid down in it. Just as she was about to drift off into sleep, Sora's door opened. She heard his sleepy footsteps make their way right into the couch.

"Ow!" Sora tried his best to keep his voice low. Kairi smiled and sat up in his hammock.

"What do you think you're doing?" Her whispered question made Sora jump from surprise.

"Kairi? Why are you sleeping out here? Hey you're in my hammock!" Kairi held in her laugh and made her way over to him which was easier for her since her eyes were already used to the dark.

"I let Tori sleep in my bed so I'm using your hammock; you got a problem with that?" Kairi walked past him and turned on a dim light in the kitchen. Sora was dressed in navy blue boxers and a white t-shirt. Kairi had on a pair of grey shorts and a white tank top.

"You can have my bed if you want. I can't sleep and I like my hammock better anyway." Sora opened the fridge and grabbed two sodas. "Here." He handed one to her and they sat at the counter together.

"I guess, but only if you're serious about liking your hammock more." She took a sip.

"Of course I am. Go ahead and take my bed I'll sleep better in my hammock." He gave her his famous grin and drank some of his soda.

"Thanks." Kairi yawned and finished up her soda.

"Come on, I'll move my stuff." Sora stretched out a hand towards the dark figure. Kairi put her hand in his and Sora tried to lead her back to his room without tripping. Out of nowhere, Sora tripped over his own feet falling to the cold hard wood floor, bringing Kairi down with him. Both tried to keep their laughter as quiet as they could so no one would wake up. Kairi landed next to Sora with her legs over his.

"You know, you didn't have to bring me with you." She laughed and they sat up on the hard wood floors.

"Well, it wasn't on purpose. I hope we didn't wake up anyone." They slowly stood up and Sora grabbed her hand. They quietly made their way to his door. He opened it and shut it behind them. Their hands separated as Sora felt around on the wall for the light switch and turned it on. "Well, you know where the bed is any everything, so I'll just go now.

"Wait." Sora let go of his door handle. Kairi didn't want him to leave but she couldn't tell him that. "What did King Mickey say?" She sat on his bed with the soft mattress under her. _'Whew that was close.' _He sat next to her with the comfort of the bed.

"He said that we need to get out of here as soon as we can and he's gona send us which world he wants us at in the morning. Oh yeah and he's suppose to find out what that paper we found said and send that over too." Kairi folded her arms as a chill came over her. Sora noticed that she was getting cold. "Hey why don't you get under the covers and get to sleep before you freeze."

"I'm goin'." She got herself under the wrinkled covers. The warmth enclosed her body and suddenly the will to stay awake dropped drastically. She looked up at Sora and remembered the he got hit in the face. "Hey come here, I wana see your face."

"I'm fine." He leaned closer to her and he gently laid her cool her on his cheek. She gently rubbed her thumb over the scratch that had now formed a scab. His cheek bone was bruised and the faint colors of blue, purple, and black lightly showed. Sora's heart raced at the feel of her gentle hand and warmth began to cover his face. The blush on he cheeks weren't noticeable in the dim light.

"Does it hurt?" She lightly brushed her hand over the bruise and felt the slight swelling.

"Not really." She brought her hand back down under the warmth of the comforter. Her eyes became heavy as sleep began to take her over. A quiet, mumble came from Kairi before Sora left. "Goodnight to you too." He smiled at her sleeping in his bed and turned the light off on his way out.

_A little five year old girl with long brown hair and beautiful ice blue eyes hid under a bed. The door to her room slowly opened and she held her breath in fear. It turned out to be a little eight year old boy with short, dirty blond hair and the same beautiful ice blue eyes. He quietly shut the door behind him and crawled under the bed with her. They held onto each other close and stared at the door. The tension and fear rose in them and their hearts raced and footsteps were heard coming closer to their door. With each step, their fear grew and the little girl began to tremble in her brother's arms. The door knob began to turn. Their hearts raced with every second… the door creaked open. The silhouette of a tall hooded man was shown through the door. They held their breath and didn't dare move a muscle. She looked at the man's face and only saw glowing eyes of which, one was amber and the other blood red. She felt him look straight into her and she couldn't look away._

"…_I will find you…"_

Tori's body jumped as she woke up breathing hard with sweat rolling down her face. She put a hand over her racing heart to calm herself down. "…it was only a dream…" The clock read 2:24 am and she calmly lay back down to try and go back to sleep.

The next morning a thud was heard on the hard floor waking everyone. Cloud, Leon, Riku, and then Tori opened their doors to find Sora laying on the ground and Kairi standing over him. They all were annoyed and grumpily went to the living room.

"Sora, come on I wana see what King Mickey has to say!" Suddenly a letter appeared on the counter with King Mickey's seal. Tori had no idea what was going on so she stayed out of their way. The rest just looked at each other, then the letter, then each other, and then they all jumped up at once running to grab the letter first. Sora grabbed it first but Cloud hit him upside his head and took the letter from him. He opened it before anyone else could grab it back. Sora just rubbed his head and waited for the letter. Cloud began to read…

_Dear all of you,_

_I will first be sending you to Tarzan's world in order to meet up with Goofy and Donald. They will have further instructions for you. Tarzan's world is beginning to overflow with heartless to be prepared to fight. Those guns that I gave to you will no longer work. To answer your question why, their leader and created a potion against any kind of bullets. As for the girl you met, bring her with you and keep her safe. I have other things to tell you but not like this. Oh, and one more thing, the writing on the paper you found was Greek. I was able to translate it and this is what it said:_

_"The key to his heart lies within her. That is his one true weakness."_

_We'll take more later, bye bye for now!_

"Alright then, we're headed for Tarzan's world!" Sora grinned while Riku just crossed his arms. Cloud got rid of the letter even though no names were mentioned in it while Leon relaxed on the couch.

They all looked at Riku since he was usually the one handling anything time wise. "We leave in three hours and don't be late getting to the gummi ship or we'll leave without you. They all glanced at Sora and he just replied with his famous grin while setting his hands behind his head.


	5. Split Part One

Special thanks to: **KHKairiNamineFanatic**, **projectfreq91**, **ffikingdom, A Delusional Reality** for the reviews. **They're always appreciated! **I know this chapter is a bit short but it's really wordy and a lot happens, **s**oplease enjoy and the sixth chapter will be coming soon.

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, and I never will.

_**Stand in the Rain**_

Chapter Five:

Split Part One

The Highwind Peak gummi ship was hidden in the now abandoned train station of Twilight Town. Riku was the first to arrive. He stood, leaning on the ledge over looking what was now Twilight Town. What was once a beautiful town full of light is now ruins full of darkness. Riku closed his eyes and felt a cool breeze across his face gently swaying his long silver hair. Tori came up the entrance of the station to find Riku leaning on the ledge. Riku's heart beat faster with every step that brought her closer to him. She leaned on the ledge next to him and gazed over the ruins of Twilight Town. Silence fell upon them and Riku avoided her gaze.

"…you and your friends look liked pretty good fighters. You know I'm not bad myself." She continued to gaze at Twilight Town. Riku smirked but didn't respond.

"…my brother taught me everything, until…" Her voice suddenly changed to sadness. Riku couldn't help but try to comfort her.

"If you're so good then why did we find you all beat up?" He teased her hoping she would cheer up a little. The sadness escaped from her eyes as if it was tossed aside but never gone.

"Hey I was just caught without a weapon." She smiled and looked into each other's eyes while Riku returned the smile. As he looked in her beautiful ice blue eyes, his heart raced and the blood rushed through his veins. He felt warmth creep up his cheeks and he looked back at the ruins before a blush was visible. Tori turned towards the entrance of the station before footsteps could reach Riku's ears. He turned to see Cloud walking towards them acting cool as usual.

"Hey." He sat with his back against the ledge.

"Hey… you know where the others are?" Riku sat along side of him and Tori did the same on the other side of Riku.

"Nope but I bet you five munny that Sora's gona be late." Cloud smirked and stretched out his hand towards Riku.

"Hell no, I know he's gona be late and I don't feel like givin' you five munny either." Riku crossed his arms and held them up with his knees. Tori faced the entrance again before any sounds were heard and Kairi showed up.

"Hey guys." She set her backpack down and sat next to Tori. They all said hi and shortly after Leon came up the entrance. Tori heard them greet each other but her thoughts were off somewhere else.

_Now that I think of it, even if I find my brother…what if I don't even recognize him?...and can I tell the others about us? I don't want them to think that I'm too dangerous or anything and abandon me…I guess time will only tell…_

After Sora finally arrived they all boarded the gummi ship and set off for the Deep Jungle. Tori sat by a window and sleepily looked out at the stars. Riku was helping Leon and Sora fly the ship while Cloud and Kairi had already dosed off. Tori felt her eyes become heavier and felt the relaxation of sleep coming over her.

_Little Tori opened her eyes at the touch of her brother pulling her under the bed. He put a finger at his mouth and motioned for her to be quiet. They held on to each other as the bedroom door slammed open. The silhouette of a tall hooded man came through the door. Behind him, a creature looking man held an assault rifle with a green laser. His feet were more like paws with bug sharp claws and black shiny fur. The legs looked like a wolf standing up; bending the opposite direction of a human's knee. The rest of his body was covered in a black cloak similar to the other man's with the exception of a bushy tail hanging down beneath the cloak. The green laser dashed across the room searching for a target. They held their breath as it slowly pointed at the end of the bed. The green laser crept closer and just before it could touch Kenji it disappeared, now covered by the mattress. When the two men looked at each other the faint sound of a strange chain came from the creature's neck. Their heads turned slowly towards the bed causing Tori and Kenji's hearts to beat loudly in their ears. Kenji looked at Tori with the look of regret in his eyes and tears began to form in both of their beautiful ice blue eyes. He hugged her tight and pulled a necklace over his head putting it in her hands. She knew that he loved that necklace more then anything because it was the last thing that their dad gave to him. The necklace was originally a key chain that their father found one day but the chain broke in a battle. At the end of the necklace is an outlining circle that touched the end points of a five sided star. It showed the lines crossing over each other which made the star. She once heard Kenji say that it's the symbol for an ancient spell called the Devil's Trap but of course she never believed him. Once he handed the necklace to her, they looked in each other's eye once more as if saying goodbye. Before she could make him stay he crawled out from under the bed and immediately put his hands in the air while the green laser showed on his chest. A loud shot was heard followed by a thud on the ground…_

Tori woke up breathing hard while the gummi ship was having turbulence. Cloud and Kairi were already awake and up front with the others.

"Stop it Riku or we'll crash!" Sora yelled at him while grabbing hold of the steering stick and trying to keep it steady.

"It's not my fault there's a meteor shower!" Riku yelled back while pushing buttons. The ship was taking damage as they came closer to Tarzan's world.

"Would you two quit fighting and focus on what you're doing!" Leon yelled at them after both Sora and Riku stopped doing what they were doing to face each other and fight while the ship was headed straight for the jungle.

"Do something!" Kairi yelled at them and held on tight to one of the seats.

"Everyone hold on!" Leon knew the ship was far from a safe landing. Everyone held on tight to a piece of the ship as it began to spiral downward into the deep jungle. A loud crack was heard and the ship began to rip in half. Riku, Cloud, and Tori were on one side while Leon, Sora, and Kairi were on the other. A thin line began to dash, zigzag across the floor of the ship. It creaked and moaned as they all backed away from the middle. Their weight shifted causing the ship to suddenly break in half violently. The front end fell faster as it separated and began to steer itself more towards the right while the back end caught more air and slowed a little. Because of the suddenly slowing down, Riku, Cloud, and Tori began to fall forward. Cloud grabbed onto a chair while Riku grabbed a corner. Tori was holding onto a seatbelt but suddenly slipped just as she was about to fall out, Riku grabbed her hand.

"I can't hold on much longer!" Riku looked at Cloud to see that he was beginning to slip as well. "Just don't let go of my hand!" He told Tori as he other hand slowly came closer to the edge. Cloud's hands slipped as the bottom half of the ship came closer to the jungle.

"Cloud!" Tori and Riku yelled in unison but then found themselves falling towards the jungle. Riku looked at Tori and held on tighter to her hand. Falling sensation took over their bellies as the jungle trees came rushing at them. Tori blacked out followed by Riku just before they could feel the impact of the trees. Tori opened her eyes slightly to feel a cool liquid on her face. She found herself on the jungle floor under trees and vines. Slowly she sat up which caused her head to spin. Once she put her hand to her head she felt a deep cut just above her eyebrow along with the cool sticky substance flowing down the right side of her face. It burned her eye and she tried to rub the blood away but it wouldn't stop. All over her arms and legs she felt tender spots that she knew would be bruises later. Slowly, she stood up to find that her left knee was slightly sprained and her right arm had two deep cuts across it. Suddenly she remembered that something was missing.

"Riku! Where are you?!" After yelling in a jungle she realized that might not be the best thing to do. Her sight flashed a tint of green and her eyes changed to green with a faint glow shimmering. Sure enough three shadows appeared in front of her. "Come and get me weaklings." She smirked and pulled out a pistol. Firing at one, the bullets went right threw them. "What the hell! When did you get immune to guns?!" She turned and ran as fast as she could with her sprained knee. They were gaining on her and eventually cornered her to a steep hill that she wasn't able to climb. She faced them with her back to the wall. Sweat mixed with blood dripped from her face; her heart beat fast and loud in her ears as she breathed hard. The shadows charged at her and she simply closed her shimmering, sea green eyes and waited for the attack. The cold claws of the heartless dug into her arms but then suddenly they were ripped out of her arms. Opening her eyes she saw silver hair shine and the shadows disappeared. "Riku! You're ok!" His left arm lay limp against his body and blood dripped from a cut on his right leg. The keyblade in his had vanished and a flash of blue was seen by Tori as her eyes changed back to ice blue.

"Yeah, what about you? Looks like I found you just in time too." He turned revealing a few cuts across his cheeks as he slightly smiled. "I need you to do something for me." He went over to her and put her hands on his left shoulder. Under her hands, she felt swelling along with a dislocated shoulder. "It's dislocated and I need you to pop it back in place ok?"

"But I don't want to hurt you and what if I do it wrong?" Worry expressed across her bloodied face.

"I trust you." He picked up a stick and put it in his mouth and bit down on it. They nodded at each other and she put his shoulder back in place causing him to yell in pain. His eyes watered and he breathed hard after spitting out the stick. "Thanks. Looks like we need to fix you up too." Tori forgot all about her injuries but after Riku mentioned them, the pain returned. Riku took off his shirt and under shirt showing a nice body along with a few scrapes and bruises. He put back on the blue shirt and began to rip up his under shirt into strips. Tori pushed aside the thought of his hott body and focused on her injuries. "Come closer." Riku wrapped a strip of his shirt around her forehead to stop the bleeding and tied it at the back. In order to tie it in the back he brought her a little closer with his arms tying the strip of shirt. Tori's faced became suddenly warm as a blush appeared on her cheeks at the feel of being close to him with his arms around her. Riku suddenly noticed how close she was and a blush formed on his cheeks as well and he turned to get another bandage to let it fade. Lucky for Tori hers faded as well. He turned back around and wrapped another strip around her arm.

"So… do you know where anyone else is?" Tori wanted to break the awkward silence between them.

"No, but we need to find them before we do anything else." Riku finished wrapping his leg. "Ready?"

"Yep." Riku began to walk but soon realized that Tori wasn't following close and turned to find that she was limping as she tried to keep up.

"Here, let me help you." Riku went over to her and put her left arm over his shoulder and place his right arm around her waist.

"I'm fine don't worry about it."

"If you're fine or not, we need to keep moving so let's get going." Both of them secretly enjoyed the other's touch as the searched in the jungle for the others.


	6. Split Part Two

Special thanks to: **KHKairiNamineFanatic**, **projectfreq91**, for the reviews. **They're always appreciated! **(Hint: reviews faster updates!) This chapter is longer than the last one soplease enjoy!

**[NOTE: sksksksksk means a change of setting and _italicized _is thought or dreams**

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy and I never will.

_**Stand in the Rain**_

Chapter Six:

Split Part Two

A tall, broad figure stood cloaked, hidden in the shadows of the jungle trees. It looked to the sky and watched a helpless ship violently rip in half. Bright, glowing golden eyes was all that was seen in the darkness as it backed up into a dark portal and vanished.

The front end of Highwind Peak fell rapidly towards the jungle floor. Sora held Kairi close to him as Leon held onto a chair. They braced themselves for the impact as the nose of the ship plummeted into the jungle. Trees came in contact with the ship's front as it broke through to the bottom of the jungle. Once it hit the jungle floor, they were fiercely thrown out of it as it bounced as continued to break its way through the jungle's thick cover. The three of them tumbled on the dirt floor as the broken ship finally came to a halt about thirty feet from them. There they lay unconscious; Sora on his stomach near a tree, Kairi on her side against a tree trunk, and Leon on his back near them.

Cloud opened his eyes to find himself caught in the trees vines. His head was throbbing and as he tried to move he found that his left wrist was badly sprained. The pain forced him to bring his arm up to his chest and wince as his teeth clenched. With his uninjured arm, he wrestled his way out of the vines and landed on his feet. _I guess I better find the others… _He thought to himself and set of through the thick jungle.

sksksksksk

The waterfall shimmered in the sunlight. Riku was sitting against a boulder resting while Tori was sitting at the top watching the sky. It was nearly nightfall and the sky was now beautifully covered in oranges, reds, and yellows. When they first arrived at the waterfall, they cleaned the dry blood off of themselves and decided it was a good place to rest. Tori was alerted by a chill down her spin and her eyes searched for anything out of place in the area. A glimpse of something amber caught her eye but it was gone in a second. Keeping her eyes on the bushes across the water, she slowly slid down the boulder to Riku's side.

Gently she shook his shoulder to wake him up. "Hey, get up. We're being hunted." Riku summoned Way to Dawn and stood in front of Tori searching for a hint of anything around them. A twig snapped near the bushes across the water where Tori first spotted something. Tori knew it wasn't heartless or nobodies because her eyes didn't change. Another shiver went down her spine but she saw nothing. The gun in her hands slightly shook as her hands trembled. Time was short as the sky began to get darker over every passing second. Secretly behind them in the thick bushes two amber eyes shimmered, watching their every move.

"Riku… I think we're cornered…" Tori whispered over his shoulder. He kept his eyes open for any movements.

"But by what?" They became nervous at the silence and feeling of being hunted. The amber eyes behind them quietly disappeared back into darkness and Tori stopped trembling.

"I think it's gone" Tori moved from behind Riku to his side.

"Yeah, I think you're right but now that we're found I think it's a good idea to keep moving." Way to Dawn vanished into small lights as they began to walk down the river.

sksksksksk

"_I will find you, key bearer…" Glowing amber eyes were seen under a silhouette of a cloaked figure._

Sora jolted up to feel throbbing pain in his ribs. "Hey you're up." Sora saw Leon and Kairi sitting by a newly made fire.

"Are you guys ok?" He put an arm around his ribs and went to sit next to them.

"Yeah, nothing serious just a few scratches and bruises." Leon poked a stick at the fire.

"How about you?" Kairi looked at Sora wanting an honest answer. Sora removed his arm from around his ribs and grinned.

"Yeah I'm fine." Sora thought his ribs were ok but with two of them broken, he was mistaken. Kairi scraped both elbows and lightly scrapped the right side of her face. Leon had a slight bump on his forehead and scraped both knees, ripping threw his jeans. _I must have broken Kairi's fall… _was all that came to his mind when he knew he was the worst hurt.

"So what do you think we should do first Sora?" Leon played with the fire while Kairi found a stick to join him.

"Well, we should find everyone else first then find Tarzan and Jane's campsite." Sora watched the flames eat the wood while Leon and Kairi poked at it with their sticks. A sudden chill came over Sora as if telling him to get away or hide. Then he noticed that Kairi and Leon suddenly stopped talking indicating that they felt it as well.

"Did you guys feel that?" Kairi pulled out her hand gun while Leon and Sora did the same.

"Yeah…" Leon answered her as they slowly stood and put their backs to each other. All three of them kept their eyes open for anything sign of anything and their guns out stretched, ready for an attack.

"No one shoot until we can see what it is." whispered Sora. Within the bushes the same amber eyes watched them carefully in the distance. The cloaked figure stayed close to the ground while it watched. Its eyes slightly squinted as it summoned a neoshadow in the bushes opposite of it. The neoshadow jumped out from the bushes in front of the three ready to attack.

"Get it!" Sora ordered as they all fired at the neoshadow but to their surprise, the bullets seem to go right through it.

"What the hell! Since when did they become immune to guns?!" Kairi yelled as she dropped her gun and summoned Oathkeeper in her hands. Sora summoned Bond of Flame and Leon drew his Gunblade.

"Something's not right, they never attack alone." Leon told them as it started to walk towards them. Sora took a step forward but felt piercing pain in his right ribs.

"Sora what's wrong? It's only one weak heartless." Kairi wondered why he had suddenly stopped. The neoshadow leapt for him but Kairi jumped in front of him, slicing the heartless in half.

"Thanks Kairi" Their keyblades vanished into little lights while the heartless vanished in a similar way. "Sorry guys, looks like I was kinda hurt a little more then I thought." He grinned while the pain eased.

Kairi put her hands on her hips while Leon chuckled and strapped his Gunblade back on his back. "Oh, yeah? And how much is a little to you?" Sora instantly took a step back with his hands waving innocently in front of him.

"Really I'm ok" As they argued the glowing eyes disappeared into darkness. Sora grinned and put a hand behind his head but instantly put it back over his ribs in pain.

"I knew it! How bad are you hurt?" Kairi pointed a finger at him but sounded less angry after seeing how painful lifting his arm was.

He managed to smile as the pain reduced slowly. "Well, I figure…"

"Yes?" She crossed her arms.

"…well… uh… that maybe two of my ribs on the right side are probably broken?" He tried desperately to make it sound not so serious.

"Sora! Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you guys to worry is all." He looked away as she gave him an angry look. Leon, who managed to stay out of their little argument, now realized that they were short one fighter.

"This mean you can't fight now that your right arm is useless." Leon joined in the conversation unexpectedly.

"What? No way! I can still fight!" He knew they couldn't afford to loose a fighter.

"Not until we can fix those broken ribs you can't." Leon wanted to avoid making another argument and attracting more enemies. "Come on, the sooner we find the others, the sooner we find the campsite and when we find the campsite, we can fix all of us up since all of our gear was lost in the crash." Sora and Kairi didn't feel like arguing either and followed Leon quietly into the dark jungle.

sksksksksk

"Did you find them?" A deep voice came from a cloaked figure sitting in a desk chair in what looked liked the Castle Oblivion. Across the fire lit room stood the tall broad figure with amber eyes glowing in the darkness of his cloak.

"Yes" It replied in a beastly voice obediently.

"Is it confirmed that they hold the keys?"

"Yes… three not four." The beastly voice replied.

"That's alright, I've just recently been informed that the fourth is held by that weakling Mickey." The dark figure stayed, relaxed in his seat facing his servant. "Nothing else to report, Soldier Two Thirteen?" The cloaked servant shook his head. "Very well then, you are dismissed." The servant bowed then backed up into a dark portal.

A dark portal appeared on a ledge of the castle and Soldier Two Thirteen stepped out onto the ledge to look at the star lit sky.

sksksksksk

Cloud came upon a waterfall and washed his face in the cool water that sparkled against the moon light. After splashing water on his face, he noticed footprints going along side the soft sanded river. He took one last drink of the refreshing water and followed the footprints.

sksksksksk

Riku let Tori stand on her own as they sat down to rest in a clearing surrounded by bamboo. "How about we rest here for awhile." Riku knew Tori's knee was most likely giving her trouble by now.

"Sounds good. Let's make a fire; I'm startin to get kinda cold." She folded her arms for warmth since she only had on a grey shirt with a starry design.

"Yeah, I'll do it." Riku cut down some bamboo and started a fire with his fire magic and sat down next to Tori. She stayed close to the fire and tried the best she could to stay warm. Riku took off his sweatshirt and gave it to her. "Here, I'm getting hot." His blush wasn't visible from the light of the fire as he handed it to her.

"Thanks." She pulled it over her head to show that it was big on her while she huddled in it.

"Why don't you get some sleep, you're gona need strength to heal that knee." They were both sitting against the bamboo with the fire crackling as it ate at the bamboo.

"Yeah… I guess…" Her voice became sleepy as her eyes slowly became heavy. She closed her eyes and a few minutes later her body went limp causing her to fall sideways onto Riku's shoulder. Both of his cheeks instantly became hot showing bright red. _She won't remember, she's asleep… _He didn't want anything to be awkward between them when she woke up laying on him but he didn't dare move for fear of waking her. Instead he relaxed and without realizing it, feel asleep as well, with his head against hers.

sksksksksk

Cloud walked along the footprints while looking at the stars. The footprints eventually lead down a path into the jungle. He looked once more at the beautiful stars before entering the trees where the stars weren't visible. A strange feeling came over him and he quickly drew his big sword, separating it into two different ones. In ready position he waited, his ears straining for a sound. A slightly audible sound of rustling to his right, reached his ears. Whatever it was tripped and crashed.

"Ow!" Cloud instantly recognized the voice and put his sword back together and on his back.

"Sora! Watch where you're walking!" Kairi's voice was then heard. Cloud smirked and carefully went around them undetected. He came up behind them as they started walking again and walked with them.

"How's it goin Cloud?" Leon knew he was there since he drew his sword and continued walking in front. Sora and Kairi jumped in fright when they looked over their shoulder to find Cloud suddenly walking with them.

"Hey! When did you get here?!"

"Not so loud Sora I'm right here." Cloud chuckled along with Leon and Kairi.

They were beginning to get sleepy as the came upon a clearance surrounded by bamboo. In the distance was a smoking fire, reduced to embers and two dark figures sleeping against the bamboo. They all realized who they were and smiled.

"Let's not wake them up" Kairi whispered.

"Yeah, let's just join them instead." Yawned Sora as he sat him self against the bamboo and closed his eyes. Kairi laid down right next to Sora's lap while Leon lay on the other side of the smoking embers and Cloud jumped up into a comfortable tree.

Sora made sure Cloud and Leon wouldn't hear him before whispering to Kairi. "Hey, you can use me as a pillow instead of the hard ground if you want." He was nervous and refused to make eye contact with her. Darkness of night hid their blushing faces at the thought.

"Uh, sure. I could sleep easier." She whispered back as she laid her head on his leg and fell asleep. Secretly, Cloud and Leon smiled after being able to hear their conversation and they eventually all fell asleep with the comfort of being reunited again.


	7. Fangs and Claws

Special thanks to: **KHKairiNamineFanatic**, **projectfreq91**, **Keiko Tenyoku,** for the reviews. **They're always appreciated! **If you have any suggestions please let me know how I'm doing. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy and I never will.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Seven:

Fangs and Claws

Soldier Two Thirteen sat on his ledge watching the sunrise with the cool morning breeze. His amber eyes staring into the horizon while his black cloak swayed with the breeze. As the cloak swayed, beastly paws with sharp claws were visible. Soldier Two Thirteen's legs were shaped as if a wolf was standing up, like the Beast's. His black fur shined as the tip of his black, fluffy tail hung low. A shock was felt in his neck and a low growl rose in his chest as he unwillingly stepped into a dark portal. He landed back in the room where the cloaked figure sat at his desk.

"I want you to go to the Beast's Castle; supposedly that's where Mickey will be. If he's not there, get my message across to him. Oh, and don't forget to tell the General." Soldier Two Thirteen bowed his head before stepping into a dark portal.

In another room in the castle, the dark portal opened as Soldier Two Thirteen stepped out with his big paws. A cloaked figure stood before him, shaped almost the same except his cloak was dark red and he was much bigger than the Soldier. "What orders do you bring." His voice was deep and his eyes were unique with one amber and the other black. The Soldier bowed his head respectfully before answering.

"Soldier Two Thirteen, ordered to Beast's Castle, sending the Master's message."

"Ahh, the Beast… You should have no trouble at all he's a bit smaller than you and anyway, he has no idea how trained you are even though you're still a pup." The General place a big black clawed hand, which was more grayish due to age, on the soldier's cloaked head before turning around to sit near a fireplace. The faint sound of chains were heard from his neck as he moved. His chair was brown and cushioned with a foot rest before it. The General placed his big dark grey pawed feet upon the foot rest and motioned the soldier to come closer. "I was wondering… if any of your memories had returned…" His deep voice came close to a whisper.

"…not really sir… except…" The General turned his head to listen more carefully.

"…except the feeling that there's something more… or someone else…" He stared into the dancing fire.

"That is to be expected… what would you do if I told you that I know of your name?"

"Please tell me sir." His voice became anxious as he looked up towards the General.

"I would gladly tell you but… I believe the best thing for you is to remember it yourself. If you do not think this is best, then I shall say your name." The Soldier stared back into the fire for a moment.

"…You're right sir… I shall take my leave, General Katsumoto."

"…it will return to you…sooner or later…" General Katsumoto stared into the fire as the Soldier entered a dark portal.

Sksksksksk

Cloud opened his eyes as the bright sun rose. He jumped down from the tree and kicked Riku to wake him up first. Riku's reflexes kicked in and he jumped up with Way to Dawn in his hand but dismissed it after seeing it was only Cloud. "Hey when did you guys get here?"

"We came in late last night but I thought I should wake you first since I don't think you would like everyone to find you two like that." Riku blushed as he looked at Tori sleeping against the tree.

"Uh, thanks. Well let's get them up so we can go to the campsite." Cloud went over to Leon and pushed him with his foot while Riku went over to Sora and Kairi. At some point in the night, Sora shifted and Kairi ended up with her head on his stomach. Riku laughed at the two and hit Sora's head. Kairi jolted up and quickly moved before her blush was seen.

"Just five more minutes…" Sora mumbled as he turned over.

"Sora, you lazy ass get up." Riku kicked his side forcing Sora to sit up while Tori got up by the noises.

"Hey you got close to my broken ribs, be easy." He rubbed his side and got up unwillingly.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know your ribs were broken but I wouldn't have kicked you if you didn't get up."

"It's alright. Well, let's go to the campsite and get fixed and stuff." Sora walked slowly since he was still half asleep as they followed him threw the jungle.

Once they arrived they were greeted by Tarzan and Jane and were given a potion to cure all of them since using magic was a dangerous way to attract enemies. "Oh, Sora I forgot, King Mickey dropped this off for you." Jane handed Sora a letter with the Mickey emblem sealed on the back.

_Dear_ _Friends_,

_I'm truly sorry to say that I couldn't make it but something came up. Thankfully we can Meet somewhere else ASAP. Luckily I haven't run into anything Beast like on my trip to the Castle and hopefully you won't either._

_Sincerely,_

_MM_

"He says we can meet somewhere else but he doesn't say where." Sora over looked the letter twice before Tori took it from him and noticed the capitalized letters that shouldn't be.

"Is your friend a good speller?" Tori asked Kairi while Sora argued with Riku.

"Yes why?"

"Look here." Tori pointed to the capitalized letters and their words. "Any of you familiar with the Beast's Castle?"

"Of course we are why do you ask?" Sora turned around to face Tori and Kairi.

"Because that's where he wants to meet us." Kairi showed the letter to Sora and they all agreed.

"Ok then let's get going."

"And what exactly are we suppose to 'get going' in?" Cloud said sarcastically as he crossed his arms. Kairi subconsciously looked at the back of the letter to find something written at the bottom.

_P.S. I heard about your little mishap so I sent a new gummi. Just look in the trees hidden behind the tent. _

Kairi walked behind the tent while the others shared their ideas. She found a new Falcon Level 6 ship hidden in the trees. "Hey guys! I know how we're getting to the Castle!"

"How?" Riku went behind the tent followed by everyone else.

"Whoa" Sora liked how it was brand new and immediately ran threw the bushes to get in it first.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Leon ran into the ship followed by the other.

"We're sorry we couldn't stay longer but the King needs us." Kairi said goodbye to Tarzan and Jane.

"It's quite alright dear, we enjoyed seeing you all again." Jane waved and Tarzan copied her as Kairi boarded the ship.

Once the arrived at the Castle, Bell was found pacing in front of the Castle doors.

"Bell? What are you doing out here alone?" Kairi made her stop and calm down a little. "Now, tell us what's wrong."

"I-It's the Beast, he's in trouble, there's something in there- I was forced to stay out here until he could find it while everyone else was forced into a locked room. Please Sora, will you help him?" Bell talked fast with worry.

"Of course we'll help him, don't you worry. You stay out here and we'll take care of it." Sora, Riku, and Kairi summoned a keyblade while Cloud and Leon drew their swords. Riku held Way to Dawn, Sora held Oblivion, and Kairi held Oathkeeper. Tori was given one of the pieces to Cloud's sword while he held two other combined pieces in his hands.

"We'll be back soon don't you worry." Kairi gave Bell a smile as they entered the Castle.

The Castle was quiet and darkness lingered in its vast entrance. All of them stayed close together while their ears strained for any noise. Growls loudly echoed throughout the castle and they jumped in surprise. The Beast came running down from the west wing stairs and halted at the sight of them. "Sora! You're here! Hurry this way, his scent is coming from the ball room." Sora and the others ran up the stairs to the big doors that opened to the ball room.

"What's going on Beast?" Sora whispered while the Beast put his ear to the door.

"A trespasser…" He slowly lifted the latch to the doors as they waited behind him. "…he's after something but I can't figure out what…" The great big doors creaked open into the dark ball room. It was silent, deafening silence. They entered slowly with their backs to each other. The Beast flicked a switch on the wall, turning on the light from the chandelier.

"This light cast many shadows… stick to the light." Riku whispered to them as the made their way to the center of the room.

"I did not expect so many of you to dispose of." A beast like voice echoed through the room as their heads turned looking for its source. From the shadows out stepped a cloaked figure of broad stature with black paws and silver claws, sharp as metal.

"Who are you? Get out of my castle!" the Beast's chest growled furiously at the sight of the trespasser.

"That's a good question… A question that I'm trying to answer but in the meantime, you can just call me soldier because that's all I am."

"What's your business here?!" Riku readied his keyblade.

"All of you, of course."

"Get out!" the Beast charged at Soldier but he simple stepped out of the way. The Beast roared in frustration and went straight for him. Soldier caught the Beast's clawed hands in his own black clawed hands. Pushing against each other, their growls increased. Claws, sharp as metal, scraped against the ball room floor. Sora and the others charged towards Soldier. The trespasser noticed and summoned heartless and nobodies to keep them busy. To break apart from each other, the Beast quickly released and fell to his hands, sending the trespasser across the room. Soldier landed on all fours, digging his claws into the floor to slow himself to a stop as he spun around to face the Beast.

The Beast let out a terrifying roar echoing in the immense room. Soldier returned a roar and they charged again; this time the Beast caught his claws in his black cloak but Soldier pulled it off himself revealing his true self. Fur black as night covered his muscular body, glistening in the light. He wore gleaming navy blue armor that formed to fit his upper body. His face was of a wolf with sharp fangs to match his steel like claws. At his left side a sword was sheathed; around his neck a metal collar flickered with a heartless and nobody symbol on each side.

Both held a deep growl in their broad chest and charged again. The Beast swung at him with his claws but missed and scratched Soldier's armor. Soldier swung his claws at the Beast, cutting his forearm. The Beast roared in pain and threw his head towards Soldier, stabbing him in the shoulder where the armor didn't cover. Soldier yelped like an injured dog in pain and pounced on the Beast. The Beast fell to his back and kicked Soldier over him with his legs causing Soldier to slide across the floor on his back.

Soldier's armor had two claw marks on his stomach but they didn't penetrate it. He stood up to face the Beast and readied himself again. Running on all fours, they clashed. The Beast fell to his back again and Soldier held the Beast's shoulders down while snapping his metal like teeth at him. The Beast held him back by the shoulders and punched under Soldier's jaw, forcing him to get off the Beast. Blood dripped on the sides of his mouth as he snarled. The Beast went for him and succeeded in cutting him across the face.

Breathing heavy they face each other again, drops of blood escaping from their injuries. "…I will kill you…" The Beast growled as he starred into Soldier's amber, death threatening eyes. Suddenly a flashback hit Soldier…

_Soldier opened his eyes to find his arms and legs chained in a castle dungeon. The door creaked open revealing a tall, broad figure with a red cloak and black paws. "I'm in charge of you now, and you will find that you feel strange but don't fight it. I will be training you and if you dare try to turn on anyone in this castle, I will kill you myself." He walked over to him and unlocked the chains. "I am General Katsumoto and you are now Soldier Two Thirteen so don't forget it." Soldier nodded as he followed Katsumoto out of the dungeon looking like a monster._

Turning back to reality, Soldier found the Beast coming for him. Once the Beast reached him, their claws cut against each other. The Beast's chest bled slowly from the four cuts but Soldier's armor only had more scratch marks. Another flashback hit him at the sight of dripping blood.

_A little girl lay next to him under a bed, hiding her face. 'What? I'm a human?' He thought as he looked at his small, child hands. Two figures came through the door and the next thing him knew he was standing in front of him with a green laser pointed at his chest. Shock went through his body as the bullet made impact and his body became limp, falling to the floor with blood falling freely all around him. A small voice was heard… "Ke-"_

"Grrr! you're dead!" Sound seemed to have left his ears as the Beast came at him, cutting at his armor. 'Was that real? Was that a memory?' To stop the Beast's claws, he punched him in the face making him back off. Seeing the opening, he charged at him with his claws but the Beast lower his head as he went down to all fours. Everything stopped as Riku destroyed the last nobody and they all looked at the Beast and Soldier, frozen in the spot of collision. Soldier and the Beast fell silent…

Soldier's claws dug into each shoulder while the Beast's horns found enough strength to pierce through the now weak spot of his armor. They looked at each other with threatening eyes and pulled away. Soldier's head began to spin at amounts of lost blood.

"_Come on brother we gotta see Dad before he leaves!" The same small girl ran in front of him with long brown hair waving behind her._

"_Wait! What's my name!" He desperately called out to the girl as he found his legs wouldn't run fast enough. _

"_Why would you ask a silly question like that?"_

"_Please just answer!" The little girl kept running farther away._

"_Catch up, Kenji!"_

Shock and pain circulated throughout him as his heart began to race and his vision became blurry. Hesitating, he summoned a dark portal but a whisper was heard before it disappeared…

"…Kenji…"

_I have a link on my profile if you would like to see what Kenji looks like sinceit won't let me post it here._


	8. In the Dark

Special thanks to **projectfreq91**and **Silent Blade** for the reviewing! And thanks **Chrislma Janine Gahat** for the alert add! **They're always appreciated! Please, please, please review! If you're also an author you know how motivating reviews are so please, review and let me know how it is so far, thanks! I do realize this is a short chapter for such a long update but I was having troubles so the next will be longer. Sorry everyone!**

**Notice: Updates may be longer due to school and I was forced to wait for the new house to receive internet so sorry for the long update. **

Disclaimer- Obviously I don't own the characters. I mean come on who would believe me if I said I owned them? Honestly get real people.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Eight:

In the Dark

General Katsumoto stood behind Kenji and wrapped his wounds. Kenji was sitting on what looked like an old beat up hospital bed in a dim room.

"…I know you are so much more then that beast and yet you lost…" Katsumoto's deep voice reached Kenji's ears as he lay them against his head in shame.

"It's just… memories kept coming back and distracting me… the next thing I knew, he had his horns in me. By the way I thought nothing could break that armor, isn't it made with the master's magic?"

Katsumoto picked up the armor that lay next to Kenji and examined it with his two colored eyes. He put it in front of Kenji, "See here, that beast knew that if he could scratch enough to make the metal weak, he could pierce it with his strength." He threw the armor across the floor causing it to echo in the room and continued to fix Kenji's wounds. He sighed as he finished covering his wounds. "You know, you aren't like the others if you haven't noticed." Kenji stepped down from the bed and turned to face Katsumoto.

"Oh, yeah and how is that?" He crossed his arms.

"…I was the master's first successful creation and the one flaw is my ability to remember everything that I am and was causing me to reject him. To fix that flaw he put these metal collar things around our necks to keep us in his control. Unfortunate for him, I still opposed him and he added these chains." Katsumoto let his hood fall revealing a wolf like head just like Kenji's. The chains wrapped around his snout continuing around the back of his head like a halter. They were loose enough for him to move his mouth freely but when the collar shocked him, so did the chains.

"Yeah and?"

"Let me finish… if you have the memories of who you are, the master fears you will refuse to kill. That goes for all of his creations." Kenji thought about it for a moment but pushed it aside. He turned and walked out the door with unanswered questions lingering at the back of his mind.

sksksksksk

"Stop licking it and let me finish." Bell tried to bandage the Beast while he stubbornly denied her help. The others cleaned themselves up as well and rested in the chairs watching Bell and the Beast. The Beast finally gave up with a growl and Bell wrapped his arm.

"Well… It looks like that new evil guy was successful in making his new soldiers. Not to mention they like pretty strong too." Sora crossed his arms and examined the beautiful castle as memories fill his mind.

"Yeah and King Mickey didn't even show up. Who knows what'll happen now." Riku sighed. Bell finished fixing the Beast and tuned in on the discussion.

"Well you're all welcome to stay here for the night." Bell offered since she knew the Beast wouldn't.

"I think we have no choice anyway…" Cloud leaned against the wall on the edge of the window. They peered out to have their eyes meet with pouring rain and darkness.

"Yeah it sure looks that way." Leon rarely contributed in general discussion. They were interrupted with a loud, shaking thunder causing Tori and Kairi to scream and desperately hold on to each other.

"It's just thunder." Riku smiled at their silly fear.

"Since you're stuck here, the Beast can show you to his extra rooms." The Beast gave Bell a surprised look and then grumpily got up as they followed after. Along the corridor were five doors leading to other bedrooms. "I'm sorry we're one short unless one of you would rather go to the other side of the castle."

"That's ok; me and Tori can share a room especially in this kind of weather." Kairi smiled.

"Girls and their stupid fears." Cloud walked to the last door and disappeared into his room. The guys laughed while Kairi stuck out her tongue. She grabbed Tori's wrist, pulling her into the first door.

"Well, lets get some sleep. I think we've got a long day tomorrow." Sora yawned before walking into the second door.

"Yeah I guess he's right." Riku followed into the third and Leon took the last door. He flicked on the light and a note on the bed caught his eye. It read:

Leon-

Meet me at the back gates of the Castle at one when everyone's asleep. This is a very private matter so please keep this information to yourself and get rid of this letter once you've read it.

Thanks, Mickey

Confused, he crumbled it up and through it on the dresser across the room. The soft sheets made his body relax as he stared at the ceiling.

sksksksksk

"Hey give me back my pillow!" Kairi chased Tori around the room.

"No way! It's mine now!" Tori dodged her and ran the other direction. Kairi slipped on the carpet and the both started laughing hysterically.

"Fine, but only because you're actually having a good time and you finally trust me." Their laughter was interrupted by a loud thunder causing them to scream in fright. Lighting flashed and was followed by another thunder crackling through the sky. Their screams were heard through the corridor as the power went out. Tori found Kairi's hand.

"What do we do?" Tori's eyes became confused on whether they were open or closed.

"Let's find the boys." They put one hand in front of them as Kairi led them out the door. "Stay on the wall and we'll find Sora's door." They let go of each other and followed the wall. Kairi screamed as she ran into a suit of armor and Tori jumped at the noise.

"Hey watch it."

"Yeah, I know. Do you think we passed the door? Wait never mind." Kairi's hand reached the door to find it had just been opened.

"Wait what?" Sora's voice came from in front of her. They screamed as thunder struck again.

"Do you have a light?" Tori found Kairi and kept her hand on her shoulder.

"Nope and I can't use magic cause I don't have anything to light not to mention the fact that I could accidentally hit someone or something."

"Well, let's find the others." Kairi suggested.

"Alright, Riku was in the next room so let's go that way." Sora pointed but no one see anything.

"And which way is that?" Sora found Kairi's hands and put them on his shoulders.

"Everyone just don't let go and I lead." Sora led them down the corridor. A sudden crash of thunder made the girls scream. "It's ok; thunder can't hurt you."

"It's still scary." Tori suddenly screamed at the touch of two hands grabbing her shoulders. Someone was laughing behind her and Sora and Kairi instantly knew it was Riku. "That's not funny!"

"Yeah it is!" Riku, Sora, and Kairi started laughing but were interrupted by another crash of thunder.

"Riku, you were blinded, you find a light." Sora kept leading them to the next door.

"I can't see through this, I just have extremely good hearing."

"Well you're a big help." Sora found Leon's door open and they assumed he was in the corridor too. Once they came to Cloud's door, it swung open, knocking Sora into a suit of armor. Kairi screamed and tripped over him and Tori and Riku fell with them.

"Sounds like you guys are pretty lousy without a light." Cloud's voice indicated a smile while they desperately tried the get up without hurting someone else.

"Oh, shut up Cloud." Sora's voice came from underneath them. Thunder startled them as its vicious roars became closer. Suddenly the lights flickered back on reveling them on the floor with pieces of armor all over. Sora was on the bottom while Kairi lay on hi back. Tori fell right next to them and sat on Sora's arm while Riku lay across her stomach. Riku rolled off her and helped her up with light blushes on their faces. Kairi stood up, taking pieces of armor off her and Sora staggered to his feet. "Man, all of you together are really heavy." They laughed while he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey where's Leon?" Riku questioned as the rest of the corridor appeared empty. The Beast came running up the stairs and slid across the floor as he turned into the corridor.

"Come quick! Leon's outside at the back gates!" They followed the Beast to the entrance hall. Thunder struck and Tori's eyes began to flicker to green in the dim light. She saw a flash of green and Riku summon Way to Dawn.

"They're coming!" Tori caught one piece of Cloud's sword as he tossed it in her direction. Kairi summoned Oathkeeper and Sora summoned Oblivion. Nobodies and heartless appeared all around the entrance hall. The Beast leapt over the whole staircase, landing on an Armored Night, dispersing it into particles of light.

"Sora! Riku! Go and get Leon! The storm's getting closer!" Cloud took a few steps down and then jumped down crushing a Creeper. They slashed through heartless and nobodies as they ran for the door. The others fought the army of heartless and nobodies as the doors opened. Sora and Riku ran through the doors and into the cold, pouring rain.

"Leon!" They yelled when he came into sight, standing at the gates. He turned around to look at them but to their eyes, suddenly vanished. Confusion overwhelmed Leon as everything stopped as if time was on pause. A hooded man appeared behind him and gestured him to follow through the dark portal. Even though his mind refused, his body kept moving. As he unwillingly walked towards the dark portal, frozen rain drops were pushed aside in the cold air.

"What happened?" They stopped after seeing Leon disappear.

"I have no idea." Riku was just as confused as Sora. After looking at each other, a horrifying wolf creature appeared. His fur was brown and white; his fangs protruding at the sides of his mouth as he growled with his blood red eyes glowing at them. He howled voraciously and ran towards them. He wore the same armor as Kenji but welded a double ended staff. At one end, a double edged blade and at the other, a crescent moon shaped blade which was also double ended.

"He's just like the other one! Get out of the way!" Sora pushed Riku to one side and lunged himself to the other and let the creature run through. Both stood up quickly and readied their stance. The creature dragged one end of the staff to turn himself around in the now muddy courtyard.

"Give me the Key to his heart!" The creature's deep voice was horse as he barred his threatening fangs.

"I don't know what you're talking about but if you want our keyblades then come and get 'em!" Sora's body flashed a tint of red and he stood in the rain with Ultima weapon and Oblivion in his red gloved hands. Riku looked at his own hands and found Fenrir and Way to Dawn. He was confused that Fenrir was in his hand but tossed that thought aside and got in a ready stance.

"Give it to me or I'll kill your friends before your eyes then finish off you!" The creature held his staff with his clawed hands and sprinted at them. Sora and Riku readied their keyblades and ran at him.

**A/N: I'm sorry there's a cliff hanger but there's a good reason for it! And how else am I suppose to get you to read the next chapter? Don't forget to review!**


	9. One Down

Special thanks to **projectfreq91**, **Silent Blade, **and** KHKairiNamineFanatic** for the reviewing! And thanks **Silent Blade **for the alert and favorite story add! **They're always appreciated! Please, please, please review! If you're also an author you know how motivating reviews are so please, review and let me know how it is so far, thanks! I'm glad you guys like it so far and there's more twist and turns to come!**

**IMPORTANT: I will be leaving for a week starting Sept. 17 through Sept. 21. Unfortunately I won't be able to update until after that but I did my best to get this chapter up so you readers won't be too mad at me. Enjoy this chapter because it'll be awhile till I can update.**

Disclaimer- I only own my characters and the plot.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Nine:

One Down...

Metal collided, sparks flew, and blood dripped… The brown wolf creature held them both back with each end of his spear. Baring his fangs, he growled ferociously and snapped at them. Sora quickly spun around him and slashed with both keyblades but he brought his staff behind him at the last second. Riku took this advantage to come at him from the front, bringing down both keyblades. Unexpectedly, he threw Sora back and barely blocked Riku's attack.

"You will fail!" He pushed against Riku's keyblades and jumped backwards, flipping at he landed. "I am stronger than you'll ever be pathetic humans!" He howled and ran at them; spear slashing as he came. Sora and Riku blocked his attacks one after another sending sparks everywhere.

"At least we don't have a missing heart eating away at us from the inside!" Sora took him by surprise and the creature froze. His eyes looked as if his mind was in another world and flickered from black and amber to normal brown human eyes.

"…Jake…" His voice became almost human but then he violently shook his head. After dropping his spear, he pressed his clawed, paw-like hands to his ears. He staggered as he fiercely shook his head. Then he threw his head up towards the sky and let out a vicious howl with his hands growing into fist. When he looked back down his eyes were back to black and amber. "DIE!" He picked up his spear and hurled it towards Sora.

"Not by the likes of you!" Sora jumped in the air and rolled as it flew under him. The brown creature came at full speed towards Sora with threaten growls. Riku ran up behind the creature and Sora went for the front. At the last second the creature flew to the side causing Riku and Sora's keyblade to clash.

"Sorry" the both apologized quickly to find the creature coming at them again. Riku and Sora surrounded him again and they all found themselves at a stand still. The creature slowly turned in circles to watch both Sora and Riku. The creature's loud growling reached their ears as they fixed their eyes on him. Sora lunged at him but only managed to cut up his shoulder and armor. At the same time Riku lunged on his back, cutting his other shoulder and armor. They landed with a few cuts on their faces from his claws and readied themselves to finish him off.

"…I'm not the only one you know… and compared to the others, I'm nothing in strength." He looked them in the eyes and went for them. Sora swiftly spun around to his back while Riku attacked from the front. The creature grabbed both of Riku's keyblades as they came down on him. The palms of the creature's hands began to drip dark red blood that mixed with the rain. Sora jumped from behind but the creature kicked him in the gut. Sora found his feet before landing and stopped himself with one of his keyblades. Riku was thrown hard against a wall knocking him unconscious.

"Riku!" Sora staggered to his feet and readied both keyblades. The creature and Sora clashed; keyblades against hands. Blood fell to wet ground and dispersed through the rain. The creature came unexpectedly at Sora from the side but slipped. Sora held Oblivion in his right hand and stabbed the creature right in the heart as he stood on his knees. He became still and his eyes were now normal, brown eyes. Slowly he lifted his hands and held onto the keyblade. Blood began to trickled down the sides of his wolf muzzled, mouth.

"…Jake…my... name is…Jake. My heart was never gone it was just… hidden…" His once beastly voice was now more human as he whispered to Sora. The rain fell hard and mix with the pool of blood underneath Jake. "Thank you…" Those words barely reached Sora's ears over the pouring rain and his faded voice. Suddenly his hands fell limp and the weight against the keyblade doubled. Sora stumbled at the sudden change of weight and let go of the keyblade. Jake fell to the cold, wet ground as Oblivion dispersed into light. Sora stood up and turned but stopped to look at the creature one more time. His fur began to disappear, his claws retracted into human hands, his wolf like head shaped back into a human's, and now Jake lay there as a dead human with brown eyes and dark brown hair.

Sora was struck with guilt, sorrow, and walked over to him. Gently he put one hand over his eyes and shut them. "…I killed… a human?..." the words escaped his mouth as he sat on his knees next to the sadly beaten human. "…Jake was his name…" Sora looked up into the rain searching for answers but was returned with nothing but the sound of rain drops hitting against the castle.

While Riku and Sora were fighting Jake, the other were fighting off the heartless and nobodies. Cloud came down on a Dusk and swung his mighty sword, cutting down two Dragoons. The Beast used his sharp claws to rip them apart. He held an Armored Knight up above his head and threw it into three Neo-shadows. Kairi blocked an Armored Knight's sword and stabbed it in its heartless chest. Tori came up behind an Assassin, cutting its throat. Two Dragoons jumped in front of her and she blocked their staff like weapons. Then she ran towards one of the pillars with them chasing her. She jumped and pushed off the pillar with one foot and came down hard cutting across both of them.

The Beast roared as an Armored Knight managed to clip his hand with its sword. All of them began to back up into the middle of the entrance hall. They found themselves back to back facing the heartless and nobodies surrounding them. The heartless and nobodies lunged to attack and they readied themselves. Tori opened her eyes.

"Where'd they all go?" Tori looked at Kairi and the others to see their confused faces. The army just vanished as if they were never there.

"Come on lets go get Sora and Riku." Cloud began to walk towards the door gesturing them to follow. When they got outside in the pouring rain, they were greeted with Sora and a limping Riku. For one Sora couldn't hide his thoughts and no grin formed on his face.

"… Sora?..." Kairi's concerned made Sora automatically hid his guilt and gave them his famous grin.

"Looks like you guys did fine without us." Riku put on a little smile to show he would be fine.

"We can take care of ourselves you know." Tori handed Cloud the sword she borrowed.

"Yeah, I knew you could even though, by the looks of it, you had a hard time just getting rid of those weaklings." Sora teased.

"At least we don't look as bad as you." Cloud came back at him and they all laughed. Sora and Riku had deeper cuts and bigger bruises then the rest but they managed to not break any bones.

"Come on let's go get cleaned up and try to get a little sleep before morning comes." They followed Riku as he limped towards one of the rooms. Sora took one step but stopped. He'd never felt so much pain and suffering when killing a monster. He turned to look over his shoulder at the rain. The others kept walking knowing that he had something on his mind. He starred into the rain. To him the rain looked like all the tears of the innocent people for all these years. After all he was eighteen now and still fighting against the decadence of the worlds.

'_He wasn't really a monster… he was human. It's like I murdered him. This war is getting worse by each passing day. Now that guy is using his experiments on humans. What am I gonna do if he sends another one like Jake? I can't kill another person…' _His thoughts flooded his mind with questions as he blankly starred into the rain. Finally he snapped out of it and gently shut the door. He proceeded to the room where the others were waiting. Lazily he put his hands in his pockets as he walked across the echoing entrance hall.

After they discussed what happened with Leon and bandaged their injuries, they headed towards their beds for a few hours of sleep. Since it was already 3:28, it wouldn't be very much sleep. Tori laid on the futon across from the bed. Kairi had insisted the she take the bed but Tori convinced her that it was more comfortable for her. The truth was that Kairi looked like she needed the bed more than her. Tori starred up at the ceiling while she lay on her back. For some reason she wasn't tired anymore and felt like she needed to get up and walk around. She was wearing pajama shorts and a tank top so the chilled air sent a shiver down her spine as her bare feet touched the tile floor. Slowly she closed the door behind her and walked down the dim hall.

'_I wonder how long I will be able to travel with them before I…' _The sound of footsteps came from behind her. Without realizing she had already reached the entrance hall she remembered that she had nothing to protect herself with. Hesitating, she hid behind a suit of armor. Quickly but quietly, she took the spear out of its hands and readied herself. The footsteps came closer and closer until the reached the suit of armor. They stopped and a silhouette stood in front of the armor. Very slowly she took the spear in both hands and came down on the silhouette, closing her eyes.

"Whoa! Hey! Take it easy, it's just me." She opened her eyes to find Riku holding the other end of the spear in one hand.

"Oh, sorry." She embarrassingly put the spear back into the armor's hand. "What are you doing up?"

"I should be asking you the same thing. As for me I just couldn't sleep." Riku wore a black hooded sweatshirt and black sweatpants with two white lines going down the side of each leg.

"I couldn't sleep either." They started to walk into the ball room since it was right next to them. The rain had stopped and they went out onto the balcony to look at the night sky. Tori started to shiver as the cool night air touch her arms and legs. "Don't you just love the stars?"

"Yeah, there's always so many. It's too bad when one goes out."

"Why? I've never heard of stars just going out."

"Every star is another world, or represents one I guess. I never got it right when Sora explained it to me but when it goes out that means that another world has fallen."

"Oh… that is sad." She looked at the stars and tried to find the brightest ones. Riku secretly looked over at her a few times when she wasn't looking. He noticed her shivering and realized that she was in shorts and a tank top. Without saying anything her took off his sweatshirt and tossed it at her. "Hey, what's that for?" Smiled at her jokingly and stood in his white undershirt and sweatpants.

"It's called a sweatshirt; people use them when they're cold."

"I know that but why'd you give it to me?"

"I'm not cold anymore." He gave her a convincing look and she put it on. Warmth filled her as she put on the soft, fuzzy sweatshirt. It fit Riku perfectly but on Tori it was almost past her shorts and was too long in the sleeves. He thought she looked cute with his sweatshirt on even if it was too big; that's what made it cute.

"So you think Sora has a plan about tomorrow?"

"I bet you ten gil he doesn't." He stuck out his hand but she just smiled.

"Are you kidding? No one would take that bet."

"Yeah, I wouldn't even take that bet." They continued to look at the stars. Tori saw a constellation that was new to her but somehow looked familiar.

"Hey, Riku, what's that constellation? Right there." She pointed towards it.

"Which one?"

"There." He came up behind her and tried to see from her point of view.

"That one?" He put his hand over hers and pointed to the same one. After a few seconds he realized how close they were and felt his heart race, butterflies stir in his stomach, and heat reach his cheeks. Thankfully Tori didn't turn around but he didn't know that she didn't turn around for the same reason.

"Yeah." Riku moved to the side of her so it wouldn't create any awkward feelings.

"That's Sora, Donald, and Goofy. After they helped Hercules, his father Zeus created it."

"Really? So Sora's famous?" She was excited that one of her new friends had a constellation created for them.

"Pretty much. He's saved the worlds from countless situations."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but don't let him know you think he's famous or he'll let it get to his head."

Tori laughed and set her hand on the railing, accidentally touching his. "Oh, sorry. I won't tell him." Riku felt how cold her hands were and held one in his.

"You're freezing. Why don't we go back inside and try to go back to sleep?" The darkness hid their red faces and the loud sounds of their racing hearts filled their ears.

"Yeah, I guess." They made their way back to the hallway where the rooms were. Tori's room was first along the hall.

Tori was about to take off his sweatshirt but Riku stopped her. "You can keep it for tonight, I got another one."

"Thanks. I guess I see you n the morning."

"Night, and no more wondering around by yourself." He gave her a warm hug and she hugged him back.

"Don't worry I won't. Night." She closed the door behind her and Riku walked to his room. '_Wow… I've never felt like that before…' _By the time they laid down in their beds, they fell asleep within three minutes and all was quiet and peaceful throughout the night at the castle.

**A/N: Aren't you glad I didn't leave on a cliff hanger? Lol I hope you all read and enjoy while I'm gone!**


	10. Meet Squad Seven

I'm back! Did you miss me? Of course not lol anyway….

_Special thanks to __**projectfreq91**__, and__** KHKairiNamineFanatic**__ for the reviewing! Thanks __**Yami no Nalix **__for the favorite story add! And thanks __**tennisdesi91**__ for the story alert add!_

**Reviews are loved! Please, please, please review! If you have any suggestions let me know. I'm glad you guys like it so far and there's more twist and turns to come! Trust me, plenty lol**

Disclaimer- I only own my characters and the plot blah blah blah.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Ten:

Meet Squad Seven

"Master, the soldier failed." Katsumoto knelt down while his red cloak touched the ground. The sound of rattling chains came from his neck as he looked up. Taro stayed in the shadows so that even his figure was hard to make out.

"I knew he would. You should have known not to send in an inexperienced soldier."

"My apologies, Master." He bowed his head again for fear of being shock through his chains.

"This time send in the trackers along with a few nobodies."

"But Master, they will be defeated as well."

"As long as one comes back alive, that is all I need."

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The rays of the sun shone brightly threw the crack in the curtains. Tori rolled over to keep the sun from her face. Kairi began to wake up after sleeping well throughout the rest of the night. She sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. After stretching her arms and legs, she just fell back on the bed again and snuggled into the cozy sheets. In the hallway, the Beast lazily made his way to Riku and Sora's room. His sharp claws dragged as he drug his pawed feet. He knocked on the door then went in. Riku lay on the futon with a leg and an arm hanging over while on his back. Sora lay on the bed across from Riku with his arms and legs spread across the bed.

"Get up you two." The Beast was too tired and lay in the middle of the floor. The knocking made Kairi get up and she made her way to the open door. She saw all three of them sleeping lazily like boys do.

"Hey you guys get up." She yawned then made her way to the bed. With her eyes half closed, she pushed Sora out of bed.

"Ow! Ok, ok I'm awake." Sora yawned and rubbed his eyes. He shivered from the cool morning air and went for his sweatshirt. His grey sweats dragged as he walked and he put on his navy hooded sweatshirt. Riku was rudely wakened by being pushed onto the Beast.

"Hey!" The Beast pushed Riku off and sleepily stood up. Riku staggered to his feet and rubbed his shoulder.

"Hurry up! We're supposed to be on the ship already!" Kairi ran back to her room and into the bathroom to get ready. Tori slept through all the noise and shifted a little.

Sora attempted to get back in bed but Riku shoved him into the bathroom. While Sora was getting ready, Riku woke up Cloud. He entered the room and was about to wake him up but stopped. He remembered the last time he woke up Cloud. Cloud had swiftly turned and punched him in the face as a reflex. Riku readied himself… Slowly he put his hand towards Cloud's shoulder… Cloud turned around and Riku jumped and fell on his butt. Cloud started laughing and got out of bed.

"You woke me up when you opened the door." Cloud laughed as he zipped up a black sweatshirt over a silver shirt with a lion symbol on it.

"That wasn't funny asshole." Riku stood up and shamefully went to his room while Cloud put on jeans that were torn in the knees. He sat on the bed and realized how chilly it was in the castle in the mornings. Everyone finished getting ready and was saying their goodbyes to their friends of the castle. Sora had a feeling they would be back soon any ensured the castle of their return.

They entered the ship and an envelope was found on the dash board. Sora opened it as the others entered the ship.

"Hey it's from King Mickey." Riku grabbed the paper from Sora. "Riku! Give it back!"

"It says that he's on Leon's trail and to meet him at these coordinates." Riku turned the paper over to find a detail map. "I guess we just follow this." Cloud took the paper from Riku to look at the map.

"What does he mean he's on Leon's trail? Is Leon trying to run from us or something?" Kairi questioned as Cloud ignored them and concentrated hard on the map. He knew something was wrong. After the big commotion last night he searched Leon's room and found a crumpled ball of paper containing a note from King Mickey. Why would he ask Leon to meet him alone and them tell the rest of us that he's searching for him? Why did Leon disappear? Where is he? Is he ok? Did King Mickey really know where he was? Questions filled his mind as the others discussed it. He focused on the map again. He studied every world in the books but he had never seen this place before. If fact the only familiar thing was passing Hollow Bastion or Radiant Garden what it was called these days.

"Have any of you seen this place before?" Cloud interrupted their conversation and held out the map for them to see. They stopped their arguments and studied the map.

"Isn't that Hollow Bastion?" Kairi pointed at the small drawing of the world.

"Yeah but what all the rest of these worlds?" The map show a strange door-type entry that lead to the new worlds. Tori starred at the map…

"_Daddy, lemme see!" A man with short brown hair handed her the paper. She couldn't see his face given that the sun shone in her eyes when she looked up at him. She felt important while holding the paper since adults don't take six year olds seriously. It looked as though it was forgotten long ago for it was tattered and delicate. They were sitting under a cherry tree in the cool fall breeze blew against them. _

"_Don't rip it now. Here," he turned it over so she was able to see it right side up. "Now see this? This is Hollow Bastion, where we are. But what nobody knows about is this place right here." He pointed to the door-type entry a little ways from Hollow Bastion. "This is where amazing things can happen. It's called The Shadow's Gate. Unfortunately when we get close to it, it hides."_

"_Then how do we get in?" Her little voice was sweet and innocent. He chuckled and then pulled a flower from his sleeve. She awed in amazement as he handed her the pink flower. It looked as if it came from spring itself. _

"_Anything is possible if you believe it can happen."_

Tori snapped out of it and the others continued talking as if time waited for her. "Well if King Mickey told us to meet him there then let's go." They paused as if startled.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sora jumped in the main pilot seat and started the engines. Riku took the seat to Sora's right and Cloud took the seat to Sora's left. Tori and Kairi took a seat as they shot into space. Together they gossiped like kids again. Tori felt like she actually had a home, with friends. She smiled as thoughts of friends filled her mind.

Hours pasted and Kairi and Tori fell asleep against each other's heads. The ship was about six hours from Hollow Bastion. Sora's controls were locked and set for the course as was Cloud and Riku's. Sora's head began to bob as his eyes refused to stay open any longer. At the same time he refused to move from his seat while Riku tried to persuade him to rest. Cloud yawned and then stood from his chair.

"Well, I'm gonna rest for awhile." He walked through the automatic doors and down to the sleeping quarters. Riku looked over his shoulder seeing that Kairi and Tori were still sleeping, to his knowledge. Sora looked as well and they then looked at each other.

"So…" Riku tried to whisper as best he could.

"You like her." Sora knew it was coming and had secretly noticed how they look at each other when the other isn't looking. He knew it instantly because he looks the same way at Kairi. Riku got red in the face, thankful it was only them two.

"What makes you think that? Who said anything about me liking anybody? I never said anything about Tori." He crossed his arms as heat rose throughout his cheeks and onto his ears.

Sora just smiled bigger. "I never said who. You like Tori!" They kept their voices down.

"Oh yeah well, you like Kairi not like it's a big surprise to anyone." Sora flustered but not half as much as Riku.

"Oh yeah! Well," Sora stopped at the sudden noise of the girls shifting. They slowly looked over their chairs to find that they had hardly moved.

"I say we forget 'bout this conversation and get them to their beds, then go to sleep ourselves." Riku kept his eyes on them as he whispered to Sora.

"I second that, let's go." The quietly walked towards them. Sora looked and Riku and Riku looked at Sora. They didn't want to wake them up so both moved them gently until Sora had Kairi in his arms and Tori was in Riku's. They carried them down to the sleeping quarters. In the two beds across the room, they set them down slowly to not wake them. Once under blankets and soft pillows, Tori and Kairi shift subconsciously until they felt comfortable. On the other side of the room, Cloud looked sound asleep and three empty beds were along side of him.

"That's strange, if King Mickey was after Leon then why would he put six beds in the ship?" Riku shrugged at Sora's assumption and lazily pulled off his shirt and jumped under the covers. Sora did the same and then looked over at the empty bed next to him before dozing off.

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"He wants us send out trackers?! They haven't even finished their training!" Kenji was Lieutenant under Katsumoto and had the duty of preparations until further notice.

"I know…" Katsumoto looked away and Kenji understood.

"… How many…"

"I suppose six would be fine." Kenji turned with frustration and headed to the hallway.

"Kenji… only one is intended to return." Kenji looked over his shoulder and his ears lay against his head. He said nothing and closed the door behind him. As he walked down the dim hallway he put on his hood and straightened his armor. He walked past the sleeping quarters and down a fleet of dark stairs. At the end of the stairs was a heavy steel door and a dirty old key pad to the left. Looking straight at the keypad, it scanned his eyes and then required a pass code. He punched in four numbers and the heavy door unlocked its self, opening for him. Vicious growls, barks, and snapping sounds came from the growing red eyes in the old rusted cages.

Kenji growled back. "Shut up!" They all instantly became silent and some even wined and went closer to the back of their cages. "Six are to be departed on a tacking mission requested by the Master." He hit a red button on the wall next to the light switch and all the cage doors opened. "Squad seven come with me, the rest of you report to Lieutenant 27 for your training."

Six sets of glowing red eyes stayed while the rest headed for the door. Kenji followed through the door and six trailed behind him. The first soldier out the door had brown fur with white fur going from under his chin all the way to the under side of his bushy tail including the tips of his ears and the inside of his legs. His body structure was like a lion but had white spiked fur along the back of his neck to the end of his shoulder blades. On his left shoulder he had three blue stripes and a spiked metal collar like Kenji's. He was the biggest of all squad seven with his shoulders reaching three and a half feet and six and half feet long excluding his tail. Once the light hit him his eyes became sky blue.

"This squad isn't ready you know." He whispered to Kenji.

"I'm aware of that but we have no choice in the matter." The second one out had the body structure that was more similar to a tiger. He was just a little smaller than the size of the first one and had dark green fur with a light green underside and two stripes across each side of his cheeks. He bore no collar and kept his blood red eyes once in the light.

"I still don't understand why the Master stuck me with squad seven. I've had more training than these losers." The first one ignored him and continued to silently follow Kenji. "Hey Zen why the hell are you here? Do something wrong? Oh yeah that's right, you got your captain rank striped from you." Zen growled and tried to continue ignoring him.

"Keep your mouth shut Seto or did you forget all of your failures as a Lieutenant?" Kenji shamed him and kept walking down the hall. The third had the body structure of a lion but had black scales instead of fur. His ears were holes at the sides of his head and horns replaced where ears would have been. Spikes started from his head and ended at the edge of his tail. His canine teeth on top and bottom over lapped slightly on the outside of his mouth. Scales from his neck and along his underside were a light yellow color and his also bore no collar and had blood red eyes. He was the same size as Seto and had black dragon-like wings folded on his sides.

"Don't even open your mouth Ruji." He kept silent and stayed behind Seto.

The fourth stepped into the light following Ruji. He was structured like an overgrown wolf and bore the same metal collar as Kenji and Zen. He was bigger than Seto but smaller than Zen. His fur was navy blue with a gold colored underside. On his forehead was a gold arrow symbol and unusual white eyes.

"Leave him alone he's still new 'round here or did you forget that too?" He had a laid back sarcastic tone in his voice as he walked behind them.

"Stay out of it Kai and I'm guessing that you're here 'cause you followed that idiot up there right?" Kai ignored him and showed Seto that no damage was taken. The fifth walked out and had an overgrown wolf structure. His fur was red on the top of his head to the end of his tail and the rest was white. He was the smallest so far and had amber eyes. He had a black crescent moon shape on his left hip and didn't dare open his mouth because of intimidation by the others. Kenji stopped walking and the others did the same. A transmission was heard through his ear piece.

"Squad seven Soldier number 78 report to the infirmary you will not be attending this mission." The last one out the door was hardly seen and made his way to the infirmary.

"So why does he get off?" Zen whispered to Kenji.

"He's new and probably not going to make it."

"Oh." They kept quiet and followed Kenji to the airship departure station.


	11. Follow

Sorry for such a boring chapter last time but this one is a little better! And I'm very sorry for not updating for a long time! I had a case of writers block plus loads of homework to do not to mention finals this week.

_Special thanks to__**kingdomheartsbiggestfan**__, and__** Rikus Hottie**__ for the reviewing! Thanks __**shaki43 **__for the favorite story add! And thanks __**ffkhfan26 **__for the story alert add!_

**Reviews are loved! Please, please, please review! If you have any suggestions let me know. I'm glad you guys like it so far and there's more twist and turns to come! Trust me, plenty lol. Sorry for not updating in a long time, I've just been really busy and had a little bit of writers block. **

Disclaimer- I only own my characters and the plot blah blah blah.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Eleven:

Follow

Kenji led the five soldiers to a dark ship yard. Katsumoto stood by an airship waiting in his hooded red cloak. Zen stood behind Kenji and Seto stood beside Zen as so forth.

"Lieutenant Kenji aided by squad seven reporting."

"Here's your airship and the Master's also sendin' a ship full of heartless and nobodies. Who knows how well they'll work together in real combat so watch yourse;f." Katsumoto handed Kenji a black book and headed back inside.

"Load up!" Kenji jumped in and the others followed as the pilot took off. He waited till his squad settled down and then sat in the corner to look at the book. It was completely empty and Kenji flipped through it back and forth. Not noticing anything, he tossed the book aside and relaxed. Seto shoved Kai out of his way as he walked towards the front of the ship. Kai growled at him and Seto growled back they bared their viciously sharp teeth at each other.

"Watch where you're going next time!" Kai's fur on his back began to rise along with his anger.

"Sorry I'm not used to being around shitheads." Seto provoked his anger and Kai was about to jump at him but Zen appeared in front of him.

"We're all on the same team and I don't recall you being superior." Zen stared Seto down and kept his cool. Seto huffed and turned to sit towards the front of the small ship. Zen turned the other way and Kai followed him while Ruji joined Seto. The red and white wolf-like beast sat alone and carefully watched everyone. Zen sat by Kenji. "So, who's the target?"

"There's more than one and I rather not speak them in such an open area." Kenji glanced at the unknown pilot.

"Sorry, it's been a few years since they've let me out." Seto became bored and moved to where the new guy was laying.

"Move it." He growled and the new guy moved without a word.

"Hey don't pick on the new guy ass hole." Kai barked at him and the new guy sat across from Seto.

"He's got a name. What is it kid?" Zen tried to get him to talk.

"…it's Cody…" He was the youngest out of the bunch and felt uneasy around them. Kenji observed and tried to learn their behaviors. Fortunately he already knew Zen, Kai, and Seto which left only Ruji and Cody. They started to discuss how things are run with the Master when the ride began to take on some turbulence.

"Sir, we're coming up on another ship."

"Follow them but stay hidden."

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_Glowing red eyes stared into his and he desperately called out for his keyblade that wouldn't appear. Darkness surrounded him and the faces of his friends disappeared. He was all alone with the fear taking over. Another pair of glowing eyes appeared next to the first. This pair was full of pain, confusion, and despair. It began to growl and sharp white teeth were visible. Sora stuck out his hands in front of him and closed his eyes as the creature came towards him. He felt a jolt instead of pain from sharp claws. His eyes slowly opened to see the keyblade in his hands, stabbing its heart. The beast looked into his eyes; with the pain and suffering vanishing. Sora's heart dropped as guilt and agony filled him. It fell to the ground and Sora let go of the keyblade causing it to vanish. His eyes… they looked at him as if saying thank you. Sora fell to his knees and a sharp pain shot threw his chest. A cold sticky substance dripped and the glowing red eyes faded…_

The ship rocked and Sora jolted from his bed. Riku and Cloud were already up but the girls were still asleep. He stood up and put some pants on. Cloud and Riku were sitting at the controls in nothing but their pants as well which means they were in a hurry too.

"What's going on?"

"We're being followed." Cloud kept his cool with Riku stressed and tried to focus the weapon controls. Sora jumped into his seat and looked over the situation.

"By who?" Sora quickly rubbed a hand through his hair.

"How am I supposed to know?" Riku's voice sounded frustrated while he searched for an answer. Cloud watched the signal of the unknown ship closely and how it stayed at the exact same distance from them at a steady pace. As Riku and Sora argued, Cloud watch as it suddenly disappeared. He reset all the programs but it still wasn't there.

"Hey… we got a bigger problem." They both turned to look at Cloud. "…we're too late, they're already— BANG!" The ship vibrated but then fell silent after they held on to their seats.

"The girls!" Sora ran back towards the sleeping quarters and Cloud made Riku sit back down in his seat to help him. There was a smaller vibration and the power went out. Sora stopped running and desperately tried to feel his way down the hall. Cloud and Riku couldn't see which buttons were which and tried to think of a plan fast.

The pounding of his heart filled his ears…thump, thump...Thump, Thump...THUMP,THUMP… an intense, stabbing pain shot through his heart; he's knees gave in and fell to the floor. He grasped his chest for the pain was so great he couldn't yell for help.

Thump, thump…the same pain shot through Riku and his body became weak and helpless just like Sora. He clenched his chest in pain. His body buckled over, hitting his head on the dash board on the way down.

"Riku?! Hey are you ok?" Cloud's voice began to fade in Riku's ears and his vision became blurry right before he past out. Cloud ran to get Sora but the warning alarms all went off at once and he ran back to his seat.

"Dammit!" Cloud tried to see what was going on but his head started to become dizzy. Their ship was getting closer to an unknown world and Cloud set the ship for an emergency landing. He made his way to the hall despite the dizziness. "Sora?!" He stumbled over to Sora and found him in the same state as Riku. "Dammit! What's going on?" He went into the sleeping quarters and Kairi was the same with Tori by her side.

"C-Cloud…what's going…on…" She started to pass out and Cloud fell beside them.

"I…don't know…" His eyes became blurry as darkness took control.

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Rain drops pounded on the steel of the ship. Sora opened his eyes to be greeted by blackness of the night sky. He slowly pushed himself to his shaky feet and a sudden flash of memories hit him. Immediately his racing mind searched for his friends. The night sky was pitch black with a blanket of black storm clouds. The ship's wreckage was hardly visible as Sora searched its damaged structure. Sounds of movement came from his left. While keeping his eyes toward the sound, he gently pulled out his pocket knife after thinking his keyblade would draw attention. A piece of steel began to move and Sora walked towards it. The steel burst across the wet ground. Cloud appeared with Kairi on his back.

"You ok?" Sora put his knife back and rushed to help.

"Yeah we'll be ok, she's just sleeping." Cloud sat down after they laid her under a tree. The cold rain continued to strike the earth's surface while they listened for more movements. Their soaked hoods stuck to their heads and water dripped from their drenched hair.

"I can't just sit here; I'm going to look for them." Sora left before Cloud could say anything but he decided it was better to jut let him go. After all, he could still watch him since they weren't very far from the wreck. If anything did come out, he would have the upper hand.

Sora's ears strained to listen for anything besides the rushing rain. He began to dig from the spot Cloud came from and continue into the sideways, broken ship. Cautiously he climbed up and under making his way down the dripping hallway.

"Riku! Tori! Are you there?!" Only his echo returned and he crawled through a door and entered the sleeping quarters. "Hello! Any one here?!" Again, only the company of his echo returned to him. After double checking, he made his way back through the door and into the hall again. The next door he came upon opened to the cockpit but was pinned down by collapsed debris. While water continued to drip through the wreckage, Sora summoned his keyblade and destroyed the debris and knocked open the door.

"Riku?" Nothing made a sound. Sora turned back and searched for the entrance he came through. Cloud grabbed his shoulder and rushed him out of the small passage.

"We need to find a place to hide." Kairi wore Cloud's sweatshirt.

"Something is hunting us." Cloud kept his voice low.

"But we haven't found Riku and Tori yet."

"They'll be ok. Knowing Riku, they'll be fine." Cloud reassured him and they headed off into the forest. While their attention was forward, glowing yellow eyes reverted back into the shadows of the forest.

Red and white fur blurred as Cody ran through the deep forest. His fur was muddy and smelt like wet dog. He skidded to a stop after reaching a dead, giant, redwood tree. The area was slightly more open than the rest of the forest but only enough to gather more rain. His cold nose sniffed the air which resulted in nothing but wet rain. He sat by the redwood tree and waited like he was ordered to. Not even a minute later, Ruji flew from a tree and landed in the cold mud in front of Cody.

"They're here." Ruji hardly spoke so Cody wasn't expecting an answer.

"Your new orders are to track them and keep their trail fresh but to never be detected." Ruji accepted Cody's nod as understanding. His great black wings shook water from their surface and Ruji flew off into the forest. Cody was happy with his orders of not engaging in battle. Usually he was pushed around anyway because of his small stature compare to the others. Rain trickled down his nose and he shook his body of access water. The comfort of working alone settled his nerves and he ran back the way he came to continue track their path.

A strange scent caught his nose despite the rain and he stopped in his tracks. His red ears strained for sounds as they moved in all directions. Hot breath came from his panting mouth while he listened. An awkward shake in the ground reached his padded paws. He turned around but then rushed into a patch of undergrowth and lay hidden. Hooves pounded on the beaten trail and stopped in Cody's line of site. Thankfully the pouring rain had drowned the sound of his panting, giving him a slight advantage.

A human like being jumped down from the horse and walked to where Cody had previously stood. The rain wasn't pouring fast enough to wash away his heavy paw prints. The being examined the paw prints like they were a detailed map. It continued to examine the prints which made Cody a little more nervous. If he blows his cover all because of a few paw prints, he'd be the laughing stock of all of the master's creations. There was only one thing he could do to ensure his secrecy; kill it.

He dug his claws into the soft ground and readied himself for the kill. Without hesitation, Cody sprung from hiding and locked his jaws around it throat, gushing crimson blood onto the muddy path. They landed in a puddle and Cody bit down harder until he could feel the life leave its body. He unlocked his powerful jaws and looked at his kill. The horse had already taken off at the first sight of Cody, leaving no witnesses.

His kill was in fact human. It was an adult male whole seemed to be in fantastic shape. Cody grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him into the forest. After hidden his kill, he continued back and covered his trail. The copper taste of human blood made him uncomfortable but he continued on. Foot prints of his prey were easy to find in the sticky mud, making his job easier. After catching up to them, he kept a safe distance of about a half a mile from them. Cody then began to worry after seeing another human on a horse about two miles out on a hill.

'_This won't be easy anymore'_


	12. Dirty Blood

Special thanks to RoxasTheOther for the reviewing

_Special thanks to__**RoxasTheOther**__ for the reviewing! Thanks for the favorite story add! And thanks __**RoxasTheOther **__for the story alert add!_

**Reviews are loved! Please, please, please review! If you have any suggestions let me know. I'm glad you guys like it so far and there's more twist and turns to come! Trust me, plenty lol. Sorry for not updating in a long time, I just moved to Nevada so everything is kind of all messed up at the moment.**

Disclaimer- Don't own Kingdom Hearts characters.

_Stand in the Rain_

Chapter Twelve:

Dirty Blood

Cody's big paws sunk deep into the human flesh, dragging the human off his horse and into the mud. His strong hold dislocated the humans shoulder and came close to ripping it off. The horsemen punched Cody's muzzle forcing him to release. Cody shook the pain from his face and crouched for the death blow. The man jumped to his feet and pulled a hidden dagger from his jacket, ready for another shot. Their eyes glowed with pride and then in an instant Cody charged without warning. Surprisingly the horsemen's reflexes were fast enough to block Cody's serrated teeth with his injured arm. This time Cody let go before the knife reached his fur. Again, in their dance of pride, did their eyes threaten each other. Rain was not on Cody's side as it deafened his senses. 

"Come at me beast." Angered by the horsemen's persistence, Cody went for the final kill and lunged for his throat. Burning was felt behind his right ear, but he ignored it, latching on his throat. His big, heavy paws pinned the horsemen's arms to the ground causing the dagger to slide out of his reach. Cody hesitated before clenching his teeth hard enough to break event he strongest bones. It was over. The amount of blood was hardly visible in the black, rainy night. Guilt began to creep into his conscious as he walked away, not bothering to hide the body this time.

The rain had been falling all night not making it any easier for him. Blood covered his face and paws in blotches staining his white coat of fur. When his heart slowed his pain kicked in, throbbing through his injuries. Behind his right ear was a cut slashed down to the bottom of his jaw. He could feel heat and swelling on the left side of his face, below his eye where he took a few hard punches. Despite his discomfort, he continued on the sent of the boy and girl.

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Sora dragged his feet with his face covered in his hood. Leaving Riku and Tori behind filled him with guilt and worry. Cloud led them through the thick forest while trying to ignore the tense atmosphere. Kairi lagged behind tired and wet. Sora bumped into Cloud as he stopped unexpectedly. "You could warn me next time, what's wrong?"

"This will do" Cloud stood on the edge of a highly covered spot, perfect for resting.

"Finally, we can rest." Kairi walked in front as they entered the thick covering. 

"It's too quiet." Sora watched all directions for hunters to pounce on them but none came. 

"You're just paranoid." Kairi sat against a giant tree hoping for less rain.

"Maybe you're right or maybe you're not careful enough." Sora still hadn't cheered up any and took his seat aside her. Cloud sat on the other side it the tree's enormous trunk. "But then again, Riku knows how to take care of himself right?"

"Of course." She looked up on an attempt to see through the maze of branches with little luck. Cloud took the responsibility of guard dog after noticing Sora's dropping head. Kairi closed her eyes and realized how tired she really was. Sleep took over her first then moved onto Sora within a few short minutes. A smirk found its way onto Cloud's face before exhaustion out weighted responsibility. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tori stumbled over another root slightly protruding on the trail. Riku knew they were both exhausted but couldn't help but feel a presence lingering from behind. "Just a little longer." 

"Ok, I'm not even tired yet." Tori's voice was unconvincing as she drug her feet. Riku pushed threw a bush uncovering fresh footprints of Cloud, Sora, and Kairi.

"Take a look, we're getting really close." Their pace quickened to reach the rest of their friends.

Cloud forced his eyes open once he realized he was dreaming. He double checked their surroundings then relaxed. Sora and Kairi were sound asleep against the big tree. The rain reduced itself to sprinkles. Cloud listened as the birds and insects began to surface again. For a moment he thought he heard bushes move but saw nothing to his left. Then a twig snapped to his right and he knew someone or thing was near by. Without looking away from the bushes he slowly stood with the smaller piece of his sword. Sora's ears picked up Cloud's movements; he reached for his gun and quietly joined Cloud's side. "What is it?" Sora made sure his voice was low.

Cloud just shook his head and continued to watch the underbrush. Another sound came from their left and Sora aimed his gun to the left. They stood back to back, waiting for the unexpected visitors. 

Riku stopped and pulled out his gun. Tori understood and ready the gun he gave her. They pushed forward with silent steps. 

On Sora's side, steps began to come into earshot and very slight movements came from Cloud's side.

Cody's ears perked up and he focused his attention to the situation ahead. An unwanted scent caught his nose and he ran ahead knowing what was waiting.

Something terrible was about to happen and that feeling rose through all of them as they followed the sounds. Kairi opened her eyes and immediately grabbed a piece of Cloud's sword and stood with them. Rustling bushes grew louder. Three hearts beat faster along with growing chills on their backs. Suddenly two figures drenched in hoods jumped out from the bushes aiming their guns. Sora almost pulled the trigger before realizing who they were. The gun dropped from his hands and he jumped on both of them with excitement.

"You guys are ok!" Riku pushed Sora off and got back up.

"Of course we are what about you guys?" Tori tried to get some of the mud off of her but had little luck. Kairi handed Cloud part of his sword.

"Yeah we're all ok." Sora grinned after he picked up his gun and put it away. Cloud continued to look out where the other sounds came from. 

The scent grew stronger the close he came. _'Dammit'_ was all he could think. 

"Shhh" Cloud grabbed their attention and they pulled out a weapon. They listened and another twig snapped. Silence deafened the forest. Neon red dots appeared on each of them and the decided to slowly drop their weapons and put their hands in the air. Eight armored figures emerged from the forest with high powered guns aimed at them. Behind the eight who were now on one knee, approached three on horseback. The one in the middle with the most unique armor approached closer.

"Outsiders are not welcomed." His voice echoed through the armor and he unsheathed a sword from his back. "No exceptions." Riku, Cloud and Sora stood in front of Kairi and Tori, ready for piercing bullets. 

"Honest, we accidentally crashed here. We're just passing through." Sora's words did little to convince them. The leader held his sword in the air and all the guns clicked, ready for firing. Sora, Riku, and Cloud readied themselves to use reflega spells. 

The leader's sword seemed to slow as it came down. A red and white blur flashed before the five and went straight for the leader. It was an enormous creature resembling a wolf. Its razor teeth sunk into the leader's throat. Blood rushed out like a river. The beast dragged the horsemen to the ground with him and snapped his neck. It all happened to fast that it seemed like slow motion. Immediately the guns all aimed at the creature. He jumped, dodging their bullets and landed onto another, almost decapitating him. Cloud picked up his sword and the rest grabbed their guns. At first they didn't know who to fire at but then more armored soldiers came forth firing at them. They took cover behind the trees. 

Bullets came from all directions Cloud stuck his huge sword in the ground and started firing back. The two on horseback continued to call more soldiers and stayed out of range with long range arrows. Sora and Riku shot precisely in the knees and shoulders. Cloud shot mostly in their abdomen while Kairi shot at their hands and feet. Tori hesitated but then fired back killing them instantly with accuracy. 

The red and white creature stood his ground and continued to kill with great speed. What was once white fur was wither stained with blood or dirt. Sunlight began to peak over the mountains, hitting the tree tops. Sadly it was soon dimmed out again by more clouds. Heavy rain once again replaced the light sprinkles. 

Arrows hit the trees where they took cover. Cloud desperately searched for the horsemen while defeating the soldiers. The sound of rain on metal filled the air along side the copper smell of blood. The beast leapt and took care of another then successfully dodged another bullet. Fewer soldiers came through the trees indicating they were winning. 

So far the unknown creature and done most of the killing. It scared off a few and searched for the horsemen. Missing bullets fired at him. One of the horsemen emerged from the trees and raced around with a sword, challenging the beast. This time the beast growled with fur standing on the top of his back before attacking. They challenged each other then went in for the kill.

The beast jumped over the horse's head and towards the man's throat. At the same time the horsemen forced his sword towards its chest. Gracefully, the beast put both paws on the flat side of the blade and pushed it down. When it pressed the sword down, it opened its deadly mouth and went for the throat. Horror filled the horsemen as his life seemed like it was slipping away; watching the beast come for him. Inches away from death, an arrow shot it above its shoulder, knocking him to the ground.

The horsemen ran his horse in retreat with nothing but a few scratches. Seeing two of their leader's gone took their will to die trying. They began to retreat as their numbers decreased. The bloodied beast took two more lives before they all ran to the trees. With relief the creature sat panting and dripping blood. Sora hesitated then came out of the trees. The wolfish creature sat with his back to the trees and turned his bloody head towards Sora. It stared at Sora with its beautiful deep amber eyes. For a moment Sora felt mesmerized like it was looking right past him and into his past. 

It broke the trance and grabbed onto the arrow in his shoulder. With pain it jerked causing the wood the break in half with the rest still in him. He cried with pain and lay down with exhaustion. The rest came into view with their guns at their sides. Tori was the first the approach him further. She put her gun down while it watched her carefully. 

"Be careful you saw what it's capable of." Cloud looked around and made sure none were faking their death. 

"I know but he helped us." Tori slowly crouched down to take a good look at the wound. It kept its eyes focused on her_. 'There's something strange about her…_' was all that came to his mind as he stared into her eyes. "Come help me" Riku and Sora went to her side while Kairi looked for a plant that would help the bleeding. Tori slowly reached to hold the broken wood but it began to growl and she stopped. "It's going to hurt and you're going to let me pull it out." It protested by showing its teeth but stopped growling. "Ok then you can die here." He realized he didn't have a choice. It huffed and turned its head the other way.

"Hold him down." Tori gently placed her hands on the arrow. He whimpered and she pulled it straight out. Riku and Sora used all their strength to keep him still. Kairi put herbs on it. Sora tore a piece of his sweatshirt to place on it. Then the three of them pressed down on it to apply pressure. To their surprised only three minutes went by before a scab formed to stop the bleeding. 

Rain washed blood from his face revealing the fresh scab behind his right ear. Blood and dirt washed from his fur. On the left side of his hip was a black crescent moon. Cody didn't know what he should do, he mission was to follow and track but he was about to have nothing to track if he didn't protect, so what should he do now? If they knew he could talk then they would ask questions, if he stayed then they would be safe and he could track them way easier but if he left they might follow and now that he's interfered, how much trouble will he get in? 

He sat up and they took a step back. He was bigger than any wolf or dog they've ever seen. He was about two and a half feet tall at his shoulders and about five feet long. Their gazes made him uncomfortable. He got to his feet and stayed off of his front right leg. After getting about ten feet, he stopped and looked over his shoulder waiting for them.

"I'm pretty sure that means to follow him." Sora followed and the rest came. Cody sniffed the air while he stayed ahead. He was angry at the horsemen and decided he was going to follow his scent and finish the job. It wouldn't hurt to use the five of them.


	13. Bleed Red

**DISCLAIMER: I ****DO NOT**** OWN ANY KINGDOM HEARTS OR FINAL FANTASY CHARACTERS. I ****DO ****OWN THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS APPEARING IN ANY CHAPTERS.**

**Here it is! The long, long, long overdue chapter 13. I know it's the weekend already but it's hard to write in the hospital waiting rooms so I got a little bit delayed. I will try to update at least once a week along with my other story "Explosions in the Sky", which has been revised and changed to "The Fractured". Reviews are welcome, if you find any spelling or grammar errors that I missed please let me know, I appreciate it. Thank you.**

**(WARNING GOREY, I wrote some of this after watching a really gory movie so it may have affected some of my fight scenes.)**

**CHAPTER 13: Bleed Red**

Kenji pulled over his rain soaked, black hooded cloak as he peered down at a human camp down the hill. Zen approached the sergeant with water pouring from his now dark brown fur and a stern look on his wolf like face. "Report sir." Kenji stayed quiet, his eyes fixed on the humans. "Cody has broken his cover and is now traveling with the targets. What should we do?" Kenji stood up straight and pondered.

"Let's take care of this first." He pointed down towards the unsuspecting humans. "Our orders include extermination of all life forms in this strange world." They both looked down at them; guilt already filling their damaged hearts.

"Yes sir, I will prepare the others." Zen glanced once more at the innocent beings before turning around to get Kai, Seto, and Ruji. Kenji scanned the deep green trees blanketing the valley. The three creatures appeared behind him.

"Let's go."Kenji kneeled on all fours as they sneaked through the forest and down to the camp. Rain poured into the ground deafening the creatures' heavy paws. The smelled of meat cooking watered their mouths. Humans in raggedy clothing scurried around in their own little world, unbeknownst to them the death creepy nearer. A ball rolled into their cover and landed at Kenji's feet. A small child hesitated at the bushes searching for it. Kenji was instantly conflicted with his next move; start the attack, roll it back it's just a child, maybe it will go away, if he revealed a hint of weakness now then his team will surely turn on him.

His angry amber eyes stared at the child. The child moved closer… closer…. he felt his muzzle crunch up revealing his razor teeth. The little girl was three feet in front of him; his team became uneasy, ready to pounce. His hackles began to rise on his back and a deep growl grew in his strong, armored chest. She stopped. Her head tilted in an odd way, trying to see him. Seto jumped from behind Kenji landing on the girl, pinning her little body to the ground. All it took was one bite. She didn't even have time to scream.

Kenji roared and charged into the camp, angry at what he just allowed and regretful of what he was about to do. His team spread out killing every man, woman, and child in sight. It became a massacre. Kenji's mind was in a different place. He ignored the blood covering his body, the foul taste of murder on his tongue, and the sight of his preys' life leaving their eyes. When all lay dead in the bloodied mud, he threw off his stained black cloak and howled into the thunder crazed sky; crying in his heart.

….

Cody limped faster once the scent of blood, fur, and death reached his nose. He knew all these scents together in one place were not a good combination. Lightning split the sky and thunder cracked it open. Sora felt suddenly felt despair from deep within his heart. _'Where is that coming from? Why do I feel this way?' _Tori felt the same sadness pulling at her from the inside. They all ran to keep up with the injured beast. The temperature dropped dramatically within seconds causing the pouring rain into white flakes of snow. Mud riddled ground gradually became hard as the ice clung to it. Their warm breath collided with the freezing air, instantly creating a fog to escape their mouths.

The wolf creature came to a halt just before a meadow. Sora almost ran into him causing Riku to run into Cloud and the girls to stop each other. "What is it?" Sora stepped closer so he could see into the meadow. Sora froze. Out of all the horrible things he's seen, like was a completely different level of evil. Bodies… all he could see were tattered bodies of innocent people lying on the frozen ground beginning to collect a white blanket. Silent tears fell down his cold cheeks as he numbly began walking.

"What's wrong Sora?" Kairi wanted to follow but Cloud held her and Tori back. He fought back his tears; even he could not ignore this much sadness.

"You can't see this." Riku blocked their view and stayed with them while Cloud joined Sora and Cody. Snow stuck together enough to make a crunch with every footstep. The first body they came upon was a young man; his throat clenched and claws pierced his chest. Cody limped behind Sora and Cloud, and lightly sniffed the body, _'Seto…'_. Cody looked for any movement along the shadows, waiting for a sign from his team. Sora and Cloud stopped in the middle of the camp. The dead surrounded them under a blanket of white, which tried to hide the blood soaked into the ground. Cloud sensed eyes on them and drew his sword from his back.

"Sora I understand what we are looking at right now but we have a situation here." Sora summoned oathkeeper with his head down. The shadow from his spiky hair covered his eyes. Oblivion appeared in his other hand. Cody slowly backed away from them. Sora recognized the beast from the castle as he approached them from the bushes. White flecks of snow clung to his midnight fur and armor. He growled and bared his fangs.

"I've been waiting for you key barer."

"What have you done? These people did nothing to you!" Sora kept his head down as he let his anger rise. Kenji stepped closer.

"I got tired of waiting."

"How could you slaughter an entire village?" Cloud looked him straight in his amber eyes, pouring rage into them.

"It is not the how, it is the why." Kenji kneeled to all fours as the fur on his neck rose and his growls became snaps and barks. A wolf beast similar to Cody only much bigger with brown fur appeared on their right, fangs bared, ready for killing. A strange lion like beast with black scales flew down on their left, ready for action. Tiger like beast approached from behind next to Cody.

"We're surrounded Cloud." Sora lifted his head to face Kenji. "Come and try me beast." He lifted the keyblades into position and readied himself for a fight. Kenji let out a sorrow filled roar and charged straight for Sora, his paws destroying the delicate blanket as he ran. The world around them blurred as they focused only on themselves. Kenji stood up and slashed at him. Sora blocked each attempt and tried to counter. Kenji dodged and kicked him back. Sora tumbled but regained his footing just before the creature bit him. Oblivion became drenched in slobber as Kenji clenched it in his mouth. He tried to pull it away but Sora hit his armor with oathkeeper, and he released the keyblade. "Why are you doing this? Are you so devoured by the darkness that you must kill the light? Or are you just afraid of it and lash out of fear?"

"You could not begin to understand the darkness enveloped in my soul." Kenji lunged at him, pinning him to the ground with the keyblades crossed at his neck, holding off his deadly snapping jaws. Sora summoned the power of final form but the pain in his heart was so great, a speck of darkness reverted him into a heartless form. This strength and speed caught Kenji off guard. The keyblades disappeared and two claws emanating black sent him flying. He landed on all fours. Sora was so fast Kenji hardly had enough time to stand up and dodge his attack.

As soon as Kenji dodged, Sora appeared on the other side of him cutting his arm. Sora disappeared and reappeared on Kenji's back digging his black clawed hands into Kenji's shoulders. Kenji cried out in pain and frustration. He turned his head and latched his razor sharp jaws around Sora's left shoulder. Sora punched his muzzle trying to release him but Kenji held on tight. Kenji threw Sora off with immense strength. He roared at his adversary. Blood seeped from Sora's shoulder; the once white, calm snow became stained with blood and tossed around with dirt creating the atmosphere of a deadly war…

Cloud was barely fending off the rest of the creatures. Seto enjoyed toying with him. He would come up behind Cloud while he was distracted and slash at him once then run away, circling him again. Cloud was cut up all over. The gradual blood loss began to weaken him. His reactions became slower. Seto lunged aiming for his throat. A red blur knocked him to the ground in mid air. Cody pinned the beast down into the snow. Seto was much bigger than him and easily pushed his hind legs into Cody's belly forcing him off sending him sliding across the snow and dirt. "You dare turn on us? You know the penalty for treason, death!" Seto shook off the melting ice and walked towards him. Cloud had a chance to catch his breath while the beasts' attention was draw.

"I am tired of being forced to murder. I hurt deep inside at every taste of blood, every scent of death, and every sight of extinguished life. I will not continue dying from the inside out. Do what you will with me." Cody stood, staring at the dark green beast, ice attaching to his red fur.

"Cody, just submit to him and fall back in line. You are still a pup and have much life ahead of you." Zen tried to reason with him. Kai laid his ears back, closing his white eyes and turned his face away from the imminent death ensuing. Cody felt as if he was hit by lightning and his back legs fell to the ground almost numb. The collar around his neck sent a shockwave throughout his body. As he stood back up, Seto grabbed him between the shoulder blades with his jaws and threw him across the ground. Cody rolled a few times landing on his side facing away from the group.

Zen and Kai surrounded Cloud but did not take action. They too felt the pain inside. Seto turned to face Cloud but Cody tried to get on his feet. He whimpered with pain as he held his weight on his front paws. His panting became heavier as blood trickled down each leg and dripped from his mouth. Seto turned to him with an angry growl and came at him again. Cody barely got to his feet. As Seto rushed in he lied down and grabbed a hold of his rib cage from underneath. Seto stood over him yelping in pain and snapped at him. Cody managed to bite down hard enough to break a few ribs.

Ruji flew in from above and grabbed Cody's tail with his overlapping jaws. Cody cried but did not release his hold on Seto. Ruji pulled, tearing ligaments in his tail until Cody managed to kick him in the face leaving bleeding claw marks. He roared in pain and went in for another bite. Way to Dawn sliced his hip right open. Blood gushed and his leg went limp. Screeching he flapped his dragon like wings trying to take off. Riku jumped on his back trying to stab his keyblade into his heart but Ruji wrapped his tail around Riku's ankle and held him upside down. Riku swung and tore his wing in half. Ruji threw him against a tree. He almost passed out at the blow to the head but leaned on the keyblade and got back on his feet.

Seto's legs gave in and his bloodied body crushed Cody. He released his hold and pushed the green animal off of him. Seto lay there bleeding out. Cody painfully gained his footing. His tail hung there, no longer useable. Every step dropped blood from his beaten body. Both tortured bodies clung to life.

Ruji's leg and wing drug on the ground, collecting snow as he made his way towards Riku. Both heavily breathed in the freezing air. Riku charged as best he could and swung his keyblade. Ruji ducked and lifted his usable wing out of the way. Riku stumbled and turned to face him. Ruji's fire burning eyes stared him down. He let out an awful sounding roar sending drops of blood onto the snow.

An emanating black mass was thrown into Ruji. The force sent them flying into a large tree trunk. It cracked louder than a gun shot. The tree groaned and swayed. Heartless Sora stood up. A black liquid hit the snow instantly creating steam as it melted. Ruji could barely move. Both wings were broken and he gasped for air. Kenji staggered on his hind legs. His armor was badly dented and scratched. His heavy breaths were visible in the air. A sword flew at Kenji. He ducked and quickly grabbed the handle as it went over his head. His amber eyes turned to see Cloud holding off Zen and two girls holding off Kai. The sword wasn't intended for him but it angered him just the same.

He threw the sword back at Cloud. As he was letting go, heartless Sora tackled him to the ground. He quickly kicked off the frantic Sora and faced him. The sword fell short and landed in the snow. Cloud and Zen were both agile and continuously dodged each other. However; Zen was strategic in his fighting. He gave a half hearted snap to Cloud's feet. Cloud jumped and Zen immediately got under him and slashed his chest, throwing him across the snow. Kai was unexpectedly forced to jump over Cloud as he ran from the girls. He felt no urge to engage in battle with them.

Kenji and Sora had their claws locked in each other's shoulders. Black shadows that were once dancing off of him no began to recede. Kenji felt the claws in his shoulders begin to retract. Black dissipated off of Sora revealing a normal battered human underneath. The overwhelming pain of his injuries hit him hard. His body almost fell limp. The pushing strength against Kenji disappeared. He lifted up Sora's weak body and tossed him in the snow. Kenji fell to all fours then hit the ground exhausted.

"Sora!" Cloud held his sword against Zen's strong mouth. When he looked towards Sora, Zen jerked the sword out of his hands and used his head to push Cloud back to the ground. Riku used his keyblade as a crutch and made his way over to the girls. They only had a few cuts and bruises. Kai had them going in circles, tiring them out. Zen watched Riku, Cloud took the opening, grabbed his fallen sword and slashed Zen's chest open. He roared in pain and returned furiously, claws slashing against Cloud's sword. Cloud pushed against him and swung at him. Zen stepped back. A small sword piece went flying cutting the side of his face and sticking into his hip. His hind end fell to the ground. Cloud aimed for his heart. The sword only sunk two inches in before Zen bit his leg. He fell to his knees in pain and Zen was able to land another slash to his lower abdomen.

A black portal emerged in the middle of the battle field. A red cloaked beast stepped out. He was shaped like Kenji but his black fur was faded to a dark grey. Zen and Kai immediately stopped and cowered to him. He walked over to Ruji and looked him over. Ruji closed his sad red eyes. "Zen, Cody, Seto… you are no longer useable." Little lights floated off of Ruji and he changed into human, soaked in blood. He stood and addressed the other beast. "It seems these humans are more powerful than we realized. Take the two spiky haired ones with us." Kenji got to his feet and grabbed Sora by the hood of his torn sweatshirt. Slowly, he painfully dragged Sora through the portal. Kai ran and grabbed Cloud by the collar of his bloody jacket and dragged him through, following the others. Riku, Tori, and Kairi ran but as soon as Riku was about to pass through, the portal closed.


	14. Erased

**DISCLAIMER: I ****DO NOT**** OWN ANY KINGDOM HEARTS OR FINAL FANTASY CHARACTERS. I ****DO ****OWN THE PLOT AND ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS APPEARING IN ANY CHAPTERS.**

**Sorry for the delay, I kept running into the horrible error type 2 message! I finally know how to get around it thanks to ****RackOnInNC****! Thank you ****A Delusional Reality**** and ****diamondxwarrior**** for reviewing ;) and thank you ****swinspartan19,****diamondxwarrior,**** and ****milk bones**** for the favorite story add! Reviews are welcome, if you find any spelling or grammar errors that I missed please let me know, I appreciate it. Thank you.**

**CHAPTER 14: ERASED**

"_Cor meum et liberos key conspectus tuo veniet." That voice is trying to speak to me again. I don't understand! Another foreign language! "Why can't you speak to me in English?" My eyes are open but nothing is visible. All I remember is fighting that beast and I summoned final form but then… nothing. Am I dead? My heart aches… why do I feel broken? What's that spec of light? Is it getting bigger? It sort of looks like a person… that white light is so blinding I can't look straight at it. It's holding Oblivion! And another keyblade but I don't recognize it. He's fusing them together! Like my other dream! Wait does that mean this is just another dream? It must be!_

_The fused keyblade was too bright to see as was the person holding it. All the darkness burned into white light blinding him. "Sora, cor meum liberos key conspectus tuo veniet." _

Sora opened his eyes in a small dark cage. His entire body was in pain. Afraid to move he tried to recall the fight, to no prevail. He was lying on an old torn blanket on a dirty cement floor. He tried to move his head to get a look at his body. The t-shirt he wore was torn to pieces and his jeans matched. Under the frayed clothing were bandages. A red cloaked beast appeared in front of his cage door. He couldn't move or even summon his keyblade. As his heart beat faster the pain grew in his chest. The simple rise and fall of his breaths caused him pain. It unlocked the cage and approached him.

"Relax. You are in no apparent danger at the moment. Your body is healing but not fast enough. This special potion will heal you fast but it will be very painful as you feel every cut sear together, every broken bone melted into union, and every bleeding vein sewn closed." Sora didn't have a choice. The beast held his head at an angle with a big furry clawed hand and stabbed a needle into his jugular. As the medicine entered his body, white hot pain surged through him. Broken bones felt crushed, pulled, and twisted. Cuts felt like pure fire scorching his skin deep into his muscles. His head felt like he had been hit by a bus and back into darkness his mind went.

**..**

Tiny orbs of light floated off of Seto. His body, turned human like the others, lay in a pool of blood. Riku almost fell to the ground before Tori caught him by the arm. They felt broken and torn. Riku stood up with anger and stepped towards the red, bloodied, wolf lying in the blood soaked snow. It slightly turned its head to look at Riku; his eyes filled with broken tears and tiredness. Riku held his keyblade at its throat, wanting revenge. Zen mustered up a roar as he dragged his bleeding body towards them trying to protect Cody. Tori watched in sadness as death lingered around them. Kairi ran to Riku and placed her hand on his.

"Riku… he helped us." Riku looked at her and stared with darkness in his heart. The touch of a friend with strong light was all he needed to dissolve that darkness. His keyblade disappeared into lights.

"What are we suppose to do now?" Riku's defeated anger resonated in his voice. The girls didn't respond and just looked at the ground. Zen crawled all the way to Cody's side and plopped in the snow. A blood trail followed him, but considering all the snow, blood, and dirt, it wasn't very noticeable. His muzzle almost touched Cody's cheek. Hot air escaped him as he closed his eyes. The wound in his chest was very close to his heart, if he was any smaller it would have been fatal. The three didn't quite trust them and kept their distance.

"We fight back." They all turned around at the sound of Zen's deep raspy voice.

"You mean us, together?" Tori wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

"Yes. None of us want to be this way. I don't remember what I was before or if we have hearts or souls like you, but we sure feel the same pain and torture." He turned to his side and bent his head towards him injured hip. He snapped his mouth but just came up short of the protruding sword every time. His heavy body gave up and lay back on the soiled ground. "Give us a little help and some time and Cody here and I will be good as new, maybe even better." They contemplated his offer. Riku approached Zen. They exchanged glances then Riku placed his hands on the small piece of sword and pulled it out of Zen's leg. He squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered in pain. They exchanged soulful looks in an agreement of silent thanks. Zen proceeded to briefly lick his wounds and the bleeding stopped. They admired his fast healing saliva as his big tongue licked the rough fur. He was now able to stand and did the same for Cody.

The two big creatures looked surprisingly vulnerable as they wobbled. Tori and Kairi got on either side of Cody to help support him and Riku supported Zen. Just as they were about to walk off a portal of light opened behind them.

Suddenly Pluto came running out, circling them then ran back through the portal.

"I guess were saved." Riku gave them a half-hearted smile. Pluto always meant good news, but this portal was something different. Radiant light danced around it inviting them in. They all made their way through the warm welcoming portal.

**..**

His head hurt. An image of Sora's beaten body flashed in his dream. Burning gashes flared on his body. He opened his eyes and saw the blurry confines of a small dark cage. His body was weak and didn't want to respond to his mind's commands. Pieces of memories had disappeared. He felt blank spots in his heart. He gathered the strength to sit up. The elevation spun dizziness through him. His name spilled out of his mind, feeling erased forever. Not knowing himself spiked a dark anger deep in his core. The more he tried to remember, the more he began to forget.

For the first time since he opened his eyes, he realized the scents and sounds around him. With his mind now distracted at the precision of his hearing, he stood up, feeling much taller than he thought he was. Looking down at his golden paws and black claws puzzled him. Something tugged at his heart screaming at him that this was wrong, but he didn't know why. All these things felt terribly wrong. He startled himself after realizing that threatening growl came from his own chest.

The scent of earth and rain caught his attention. He looked at the bars on his prison. Heavy clawed steps reached his ears as a creature in a red cloak stood before him. "That darkness inside of you grew strong. You turned out to be a fine specimen, a full blooded Jensel and did not revert to Jaredon." He sensed a mixed energy from this almost grey monster. His instincts kept him far back in his cage protecting his vulnerability. "Stay on top and you might stay alive." He turned around and walked away. For some reason he felt the need to grab the bars and yell down at the red cloaked beast.

"What's my name!" He turned his head and thought for a moment.

"You tell me." He dug threw his memories desperately searching for a name, but nothing emerged.

"Jensel." Since he couldn't find his name he substituted it with what he called him. The creature continued walking down the dark corridor.

"Ok, J."

**..**

Kenji licked his forearm and the scab drastically shrank in size. He sat awaiting Katsumoto's return. Katsumoto closed the door behind him and gently shook off small drops of rain. Kenji felt ashamed at his almost defeat and hung his head. The grey Jensel took a seat in his chair before addressing Kenji. "How is the other one coming?"

"His light is strong. During the erasing process he kept reverting to a strange heartless type Jensel looking monster. When we finally shatter that light and find his shadow, he will become a great soldier. Master is going to change him himself." Kenji was hoping Katsumoto would retain his attention on the new information instead of Kenji's losses of the battle.

"Why don't you begin training the new one. He calls himself J." Kenji hated training new recruits but gladly left the commander's chambers.

**..**

His eyes shot open, his chest heaved fast breaths, and his heart pounded against his ribs. Pain engulfed his heart and blurred memories flashed through him. His soul cried in agony and tears soaked through his squeezed-shut eyes. The scent of salty pain stuffed his nose. He tried to calm down and wiped away the tears followed by a deep breath of moist, dank air. His ears twitched at the sounds around him. He looked at his deep brown furred paws and black razor claws. Everything felt strange like he was in a different body but what concerned him most was the blurred memories beginning to fade away like dissolving light at sunset.

"Calm down or your rage will force me to knock you out again." He slightly jumped at the sudden voice of a hooded man standing at his prison doors. Piercing eyes, amber and ruby, gazed at him, judgingly. He gazed back with blue-turned-forest green eyes. Before he could think of something to say or who he was the hooded man answered him, preventing further thoughts. "Your name is Chaos for you are. You were made for destruction and nothing else. Don't fret the haze in your mind, it will dissipate soon enough. He shook his head and the pounding thoughts didn't leave.

His heart seeped with anger at the ignorance of his own self. He charged at the iron bars bashing his head and roaring in overwhelmed torture. The hooded man didn't flinch in the slightest. Chaos didn't feel right. He felt mislabeled and thrown into impending darkness. Heavy breaths escaped through his bared fangs and a small trickle of blood found its way between his eyes and around the side of his muzzle.

"You will be a perfect Jensel. Keep feeding that anger, that _Chaos_ inside you." He turned and disappeared down the corridor. His strong clawed paws gripped the cold bars. He violently shook the bars to no prevail. Despite his hazed mind, he knew this deep seeded darkness did not belong there and that made him furious. His pointed ears hugged his head as he angrily paced around his prison cell. Clawed footsteps against the concrete floor perked his ears. He went to the prison bars sticking out his muzzle trying to spot the source. A black wolfish beast with new armor glanced at him as he passed. Behind him a golden wolfish beast slightly bigger looked at him with sad ridden blue eyes. Some of his fur fell forward on his head instead of conforming to the rest of his somewhat mane. He stopped when their eyes locked.

His pain seemed to dull when he stared into him. "J, let's go." The black one waited for J to continue forward. J regretfully veered his eyes away from his and obeyed. Chaos calmed himself finally after his previous rampage and sat in the cold, lonely corner.


End file.
